A major breakthrough against polio
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A member of the Rotary Club of Rawalpindi, Punjab, Pakistan, immunizes children against polio at a camp for internally displaced persons in Waziristan. No type 3 polio has been reported in Pakistan - or anywhere worldwide - for more than two years. Photo Credit: Courtesy of the Rotary Club of Rawalpindi
Rotary and its partners in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) are approaching a significant milestone: the eradication of type 3 wild poliovirus.
The last case of polio caused by the type 3 virus was reported in Yobe, Nigeria, on 10 November 2012.
"We may have eradicated a second of three; that's a major milestone," said Dr. Stephen Cochi, a senior adviser at the Center for Global Health at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, speaking to the BBC.
Rotary has played an important role in bringing type 3 polio close to extinction. PolioPlus grants have provided key funding for surveillance, operational support, social mobilization, and technical assistance in the fight to eradicate polio, including type 3. And Rotary members have worked to change the minds of community leaders and parents who once refused to let children be immunized, including in the three remaining polio-endemic countries, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.
The absence of type 3 polio in Nigeria reflects the country's tremendous progress toward becoming polio-free. It has also reduced the number of type 1 cases to just six so far this year, compared with 51 for the same period in 2013.
The breakthrough against type 3 comes as promising news for Pakistan, where type 3 was last reported in April 2012, in Khyber Agency in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. Pakistan has reported about 85 percent of the world's polio cases this year, 246, compared with 63 for the same period in 2013. Militants halted polio immunization in some areas for about two years, but Pakistan's military operations have made it possible for immunizations to resume. Over 700,000 people, including half a million children, have been vaccinated in the past few months.
Type 2 polio was eradicated in 1999. The elimination of type 3 polio, once confirmed, would leave only type 1 to contend with. However, type 3 causes fewer cases of illness than does type 1, which means the virus can be transmitted more widely and longer without being detected.
Nevertheless, the fact that type 3 polio hasn't been detected globally for more than two years is "extremely encouraging news" and "a reminder that the eradication of polio is achievable," says the GPEI.
"It's been a tough, sometimes uphill climb to get this far in the fight to finish off polio," says Michael McGovern, vice chair of The Rotary Foundation Trustees and chair of the International PolioPlus Committee. "But the tenacity and resources of Rotary and its partners have kept the global effort moving forward. Let's make sure type 3 is down for the count, keep pushing ahead to wipe out type 1, and free the world of this devastating disease forever."
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By Dan Nixon - Rotary News - 21-Nov-2014