Medical Breakthrough
New polio vaccine raises hope for eradication
A new polio vaccine offers superior immunisation and is raising hopes of a total eradication of the disease, according to a study published recently in the medical journal The Lancet.
The new vaccine already been used in Afghanistan, India and Nigeria has helped reduce the number of cases by more than 90 percent. The scientists behind the work believe this new vaccine could help to finally eradicate the disease.
There are three types of the polio virus, and while type 2 has been almost entirely eradicated since mass vaccinations began in 1988, types 1 and 3 remain a global health threat.
This new double-strain polio vaccine targets types 1 and 3 is more effective than triple and single current vaccines and means children in high-risk areas can be immunised against two key strains of the crippling virus in a single dose, scientists say.
Polio, which spreads in areas with poor sanitation, attacks the nervous system and can cause irreversible paralysis within hours of infection. Children under five are the most vulnerable.
Mass vaccination with older triple, or trivalent, oral polio vaccines have helped reduced the number of countries where polio is endemic to just four. But despite the use of these triple vaccines as well as monovalent, or single strain vaccines, polio virus types 1 and 3 are still circulating in the polio-endemic countries of Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and Nigeria.
The new vaccine and improved immunisation programmes appear to be responsible for this significant decrease, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). However they cautioned that the global financial crisis had resulted in a massive funding gap for immunisation programmes worldwide, including polio.
Source: BBC, AFP
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