Poliomyelitis
Fact sheet N°114
Updated October 2015
Updated October 2015
Key facts
·
Polio (poliomyelitis) mainly affects children
under 5 years of age.
·
One in 200 infections leads to irreversible
paralysis. Among those paralysed, 5% to 10% die when their breathing muscles
become immobilized.
·
Polio cases have decreased by over 99% since
1988, from an estimated 350 000 cases then, to 359 reported cases in 2014. The
reduction is the result of the global effort to eradicate the disease.
·
Today, only 2 countries (Afghanistan and
Pakistan) remain polio-endemic, down from more than 125 in 1988.
·
As long as a single child remains infected,
children in all countries are at risk of contracting polio. Failure to
eradicate polio from these last remaining strongholds could result in as many
as 200 000 new cases every year, within 10 years, all over the world.
·
In most countries, the global effort has
expanded capacities to tackle other infectious diseases by building effective
surveillance and immunization systems.
Polio and its symptoms
Polio is a highly infectious disease caused by a
virus. It invades the nervous system, and can cause total paralysis in a matter
of hours. The virus is transmitted by person-to-person spread mainly through
the faecal-oral route or, less frequently, by a common vehicle (e.g.
contaminated water or food) and multiplies in the intestine. Initial symptoms
are fever, fatigue, headache, vomiting, stiffness of the neck and pain in the
limbs. One in 200 infections leads to irreversible paralysis (usually in the
legs). Among those paralysed, 5% to 10% die when their breathing muscles become
immobilized.
People most at risk
Polio mainly affects children under 5 years of age.
Prevention
There is no cure for polio, it can only be prevented.
Polio vaccine, given multiple times, can protect a child for life.
Global caseload
Polio cases have decreased by over 99% since 1988,
from an estimated 350 000 cases in more than 125 endemic countries then, to 359
reported cases in 2014.
Today, only 2 countries in the world remain endemic
for the disease–the smallest geographic area in history. Of the 3 strains of
wild poliovirus (type 1, type 2, and type 3), wild poliovirus type 2 was
eradicated in 1999 and case numbers of wild poliovirus type 3 are down to the
lowest-ever levels with the no cases reported since November 2012 from Nigeria.
The Global Polio Eradication Initiative
Launch
In 1988, the forty-first World Health Assembly adopted
a resolution for the worldwide eradication of polio. It marked the launch of
the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), spearheaded by national governments,
WHO, Rotary International, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC), UNICEF, and supported by key partners including the Bill and Melinda
Gates Foundation. This followed the certification of the eradication of
smallpox in 1980, progress during the 1980s towards elimination of the
poliovirus in the Americas, and Rotary International’s commitment to raise
funds to protect all children from the disease.
Progress
Overall, since the GPEI was launched, the number of
cases has fallen by over 99%. Today, only 2 countries in the world remain
polio-endemic: Pakistan and Afghanistan.
In 1994, the WHO Region of the Americas was certified
polio-free, followed by the WHO Western Pacific Region in 2000 and the WHO
European Region in June 2002. On 27 March 2014, the WHO South-East Asia Region
was certified polio-free, meaning that transmission of wild poliovirus has been
interrupted in this bloc of 11 countries stretching from Indonesia to India.
This achievement marks a significant leap forward in global eradication, with
80% of the world’s population now living in certified polio-free regions.
Of the 3 types of wild poliovirus (type 1, type 2 and
type 3), type 2 wild poliovirus transmission has been successfully stopped
(since 1999).
More than 13 million people are able to walk today,
who would otherwise have been paralysed. An estimated 1.5 million childhood
deaths have been prevented, through the systematic administration of Vitamin A
during polio immunization activities.
Opportunity and risks: an emergency approach
The strategies for polio eradication work when they
are fully implemented. This is clearly demonstrated by India’s success in
stopping polio in January 2011, in arguably the most technically-challenging
place, and polio-free certification of the entire South-East Asia Region of the
World Health Organization occurred in March 2014.
However, failure to implement strategic approaches
leads to ongoing transmission of the virus. Endemic transmission is continuing
in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Failure to stop polio in these last remaining
areas could result in as many as 200 000 new cases every year, within 10 years,
all over the world.
Recognizing both the epidemiological opportunity and
the significant risks of potential failure, the new Polio Eradication and
Endgame Strategic Plan 2013-2018 has been developed, in consultation with
polio-affected countries, stakeholders, donors, partners and national and
international advisory bodies. The new Plan was presented at a Global Vaccine
Summit in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, at the end of April 2013. It is the
first plan to eradicate all types of polio disease simultaneously – both due to
wild poliovirus and due to vaccine-derived polioviruses.
Future benefits of polio eradication
Once polio is eradicated, the world can celebrate the
delivery of a major global public good that will benefit all people equally, no
matter where they live. Economic modelling has found that the eradication of
polio would save at least US$ 40–50 billion over the next 20 years, mostly in
low-income countries. Most importantly, success will mean that no child will
ever again suffer the terrible effects of lifelong polio-paralysis.
Poliomyelitis is a very lethal illness than can spread around the world, furthermore it can produce a paralysis in children until their breathing muscles become immobilized and they die.
ResponderEliminarHealth service around the world are fighting to eradicate this virus because they haven't a cure, and they only can prevent this virus will spread.
This article is interesting because we can see the history of Poliomyelitis and know more about it. The eradication is not possible in that moment because is very difficult to arrive in determinate countries like Pakistan and Afghanistan, because they was in war. However we must try to help them and vaccine everyone to eradicate this virus.
In addition, eradicate this disease in an enormous advantage to everyone because it will stop the infantile paralysis and we will not spend a lot of money that we can make the most of this money in the study of other disease.
According to my teacher, the health societies are optimistic with virus eradication and they're expecting it come soon.
The truth is that, it has managed to reduce the number of people affected worldwide. But the authentic challenge, it is decrease the prevalence of this disease in these two countries.
ResponderEliminarThese countries, Afghanistan and Pakistan, are characterized by having an unstable state, unable to ensure vaccination and protection of the population.
Also, the poliomyelitis is characterized by being highly infectious, which difficults even more, their removal. The polio is a disease that has no cure and whose symptoms are very severe, at central nervous system’s level, causing nervous paralysis. So, his prevention is very important.
Now is the best time to finally eradicate this disease, considering that we have the lowest figures in history. It is not an easy task, and it is necessary the cooperation of all countries to reduce the incidence figures every year and get in a few years, their complete disappearance.
The day that poliomyelitis has been eradicated; we will all have won regardless our nationality. We will prevent millions of people from suffering from chronical paralysis and its side effects like premature disability. Moreover, the economic benefit is remarkable, saving millions of dollars in health that can be invested in other major diseases.
For all this, we must work together to achieve our goal in a few years, to improve global health.
Poliomyelitis is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus that is usually spread from person to person through infected feces entering the mouth. It may also be spread by food or water containing human feces and less commonly from infected saliva. Those who are infected may spread the disease for up to six weeks even if no symptoms are present. It can cause muscle weakness resulting in an inability to move that in some cases can cause the death of the person infected.
ResponderEliminarThis disease, as stated by article, has been improved in last years in their eradication thanks of its prevention. However, there are countries like Pakistan and Afghanistan in which it is more difficult because of its social situation. If we eradicated this disease, we would avoid many childhood deaths, a lot of chronic symptoms that incapacitate the life of patients and also, we would save in health care.
Also, we can extract of this article a current problem in our society: the political situation brakes the scientific advance. So that, it´simportant to universalize health protocols independently of political and social characteristics of each country.
In my opinion, this is an interesting article because it shows us how difficult it is to eradicate an infectious disease and how important it is to accomplish it.
ResponderEliminarReading this article we can know all the work there is behind this task and these organizations such as WHO, UNICEF, Rotary International...
This task is not only achieved by taking a pill or getting vaccinated, because we have to take in our minds that there are lots of other points as economic or politic situations, wars and geographic difficulties.
For this reason, it's important that everybody takes part in this process knowing it will be a great achievement for the whole world.
Furthermore, I think this article gives us a point to think about these families who choose not to vaccinate their children knowing that, as stated in the article, "as long as a single child remains infected, children in all countries are at risk of contracting polio".
We have to think about this and the global good that eradicating polio means as much as living without this disease and its dangerous and chronic effects.
To start with, I have to admit that before reading this article, I didn’t know much about polio, when I have heard this word in the past, the image of children with walking problems has came to my mind and that’s all. Due to the lack of information I had about this disease, I have found the text interesting and enriching.
ResponderEliminarPoliomyelitis is a transmissible infectious disease and it’s severe since, even normally it doesn’t have consequences, sometimes it causes an irreversible paralysis of the legs (Which implies a lifelong disability and therefore, it’s already a big trauma) and in rare cases, it can be fatal. In the past, millions of little children died or became disabled: what a terrifying image, don’t you think so?
In the nineties, poliomyelitis was a huge problem and worthwhile institutions react efficiently: A 99% decrease in the incidence and only endemic in two countries while in 1988, it was endemic in 125 countries. This data clearly shows that we have progressed a lot in this fight, we cannot deny this evidence.
Despite this, poliomyelitis has not already been eradicated. Why? With regard to this, the explanation of why is being so difficult to eliminate this disease, it may be complex. In the current year, polio it’s just endemic in Afghanistan and Pakistan, countries which live in constant war. Living in a war zone implies poverty and problems to access to hospitals where the vaccine is provided. But it’s not just about war or about the access to vaccines, there’s more: many people in these countries do not have access to clear water or have a hospital near them. Although you buy vaccines for all children in Afghanistan, if they cannot reach the hospital or they do not have clear water, you will not beat polio.
In my opinion, the worst disease in the world is poverty. Guess what? We can cure it. How many diseases are due to poverty? We make beautiful speeches and we say we want to save children's lives, but the ugly truth is that, deep inside, the reason why we want to eradicate polio is either protecting our children because we do not want them to get infected or feeling better about ourselves. Poverty is the leading cause of death in children and we do not care about it. Why? Poverty is not contagious.
But let's look on the bright side, for whatever reasons, institutions are investing money in polio eradication and thanks to that, many childhood deaths have been prevented.
I think this is a good subject to help us understand the importance of vaccination.
ResponderEliminarSince there is no cure for polio, as many other Infectious diseases and its symptoms are usually not obvious, an infected person can spread the virus unknowingly. Therefore it is essential the correct use of vaccination which is the only way to prevent this global issues.
In this category we have another good example of a human infection disease that was been eradicated, the Smallpox, which is the only human infection disease eradicated currently. Although the smallpox was easier to eradicate due to the symptoms being quiet clear, and since the time of exposure to the initial appearance of symptoms is fairly short so it couldn’t spread a lot unnoticed, we have come a long way to eliminate Polio in the majority of regions.
Although these two countries still have a high prevalence, the amount of effort used to eradicate this disease will surely succeed in a near future.
Obviously everything is not black and white, there is a vaccine, and the efforts of these organizations are relentless, but these are very difficult areas, covered in war and poverty, bad infrastructures, governmental problems, which makes it harder to eradicate polio for good.
I’d like to say that I’ve found this article very interesting and very useful. I think that it’s a really good review about poliomyelitis, its symptoms and its dramatic consequences. Before reading it, I only had a sperficial and confuse idea about this disease and how contagious and dangerous it is. But now I have a clear concept of it, thanks to the simple but accurate description made in this article.
ResponderEliminarAnother thing that has caught my attention is the description of the fight against polio. When we talk about vaccination, we imagine kids going to the hospital with their parents following a specific vccination calendar. They go in, get the vaccine and then go out, as simple as that. But what about countries with less ressources than ours? India, for example, with crowded cities where finding an hospital that has vaccines in good condition is almost impossiblle. Or Nigeria, that has isolated regions that are kilometres away from any kind of medical assistance and volunteers have to move there to take care of their people. It’s too easy to forget that this fight was not so simple as in our rich, comfortaable environment.
By reading this article, I’ve also learned how the erradication process of a disease is. I only had a superficial idea of it before, but now I have realized the neverending difficulties that it involves, the time it takes and all the poeple who have to work together in perfect coordination.
Finally, I liked this article becuse it states clearly the benefits of vaccination. I had never imagined that polio could spread so much and so quickly if only one child remains infected… talking about 200 000 new cases every year in 10 years of such a dramatic disease sounds plainly scary. Like one of those apocalyptic films we laugh at because we don’t think that anything like this could ever happen. But something as simple as a vaccine can save millions of lives and avoid lots of suffering.
Totally agree with Ana with that "now" is the best moment to eradicate this disease because now is when there are less incidence of the Polio lengthwise his history, but really require collaboration of the differents countries, mainly those where continue being endemic like Afghanistan and Pakistan, even if in this moment it very difficult they can participate.
ResponderEliminarLike Esther said, it is important to have protocols worldwide that help us in diseases like this and a lot of others to find a solution and even eradicate them, but for that we need once again the collaboration of the countries around the world, especially those who are most directly affected.
I think that Àngels put on the table a very interesting point of view regarding “anti-vaccine activists" who decide doesn't vaccinate their sons. They should be informed about how important the vaccine, but not only for the individual immunity that the vaccine provides, but also for the community protection that it supply when the majority of person are vaccinated, and it allows to create something like a wall to prevent certain infections.
Lately there may be outbreaks of some disease, in theory, eradicated from certain countries "fault" of people who have not been vaccinated, producing a public health problem and an unnecessary economic burden.
I agree with Ester that there are many other problems in the world that cause the death of children and adults, but in this case we have the opportunity to forget us about a disease that cause for itself, or has caused many problems. Moreover, we fill our mouth talking about problems that can be eliminated without doing what we can do, because other people doesn't what they should and if all we put our bit, little by little we would see changes, not only in us, but, probably, they would imitate our way of doing things if "we spoke" from the example.
I hope Luis is right and we may eradicate polio once and for all, so we could focus on other diseases that are occupying an important position in the world, such as AIDS and other problematic diseases so we can continue researching and struggling to reduce this type disease.
As Núria says, there are isolated countries or with more difficult access where the supply of the vaccine has problems to arrive, so we must not forget the great work that voluntary organizations do to help these people and to eradicate / heal / treat this and many other diseases.
In conclusion, I think it has been an interesting debate in which each of my classmates has focused on the point that they believed to be the most interesting or the most important. The fight continues and we must remain vigilant and if we all struggle with a common goal we can achieve much more if we are dedicated to the destruction of our neighbors. Thank you very much to all for your comments and contributions.
Totally agree with Ana with that "now" is the best moment to eradicate this disease because now is when there are less incidence of the Polio lengthwise his history, but really require collaboration of the differents countries, mainly those where continue being endemic like Afghanistan and Pakistan, even if in this moment it very difficult they can participate.
ResponderEliminarLike Esther said, it is important to have protocols worldwide that help us in diseases like this and a lot of others to find a solution and even eradicate them, but for that we need once again the collaboration of the countries around the world, especially those who are most directly affected.
I think that Àngels put on the table a very interesting point of view regarding “anti-vaccine activists" who decide doesn't vaccinate their sons. They should be informed about how important the vaccine, but not only for the individual immunity that the vaccine provides, but also for the community protection that it supply when the majority of person are vaccinated, and it allows to create something like a wall to prevent certain infections.
Lately there may be outbreaks of some disease, in theory, eradicated from certain countries "fault" of people who have not been vaccinated, producing a public health problem and an unnecessary economic burden.
I agree with Ester that there are many other problems in the world that cause the death of children and adults, but in this case we have the opportunity to forget us about a disease that cause for itself, or has caused many problems. Moreover, we fill our mouth talking about problems that can be eliminated without doing what we can do, because other people doesn't what they should and if all we put our bit, little by little we would see changes, not only in us, but, probably, they would imitate our way of doing things if "we spoke" from the example.
I hope Luis is right and we may eradicate polio once and for all, so we could focus on other diseases that are occupying an important position in the world, such as AIDS and other problematic diseases so we can continue researching and struggling to reduce this type disease.
As Núria says, there are isolated countries or with more difficult access where the supply of the vaccine has problems to arrive, so we must not forget the great work that voluntary organizations do to help these people and to eradicate / heal / treat this and many other diseases.
In conclusion, I think it has been an interesting debate in which each of my classmates has focused on the point that they believed to be the most interesting or the most important. The fight continues and we must remain vigilant and if we all struggle with a common goal we can achieve much more if we are dedicated to the destruction of our neighbors. Thank you very much to all for your comments and contributions.