Polio Notes – Amazonite345

Polio is very contagious

Paralyzed millions of children a year

Kills 1 in 1000

Paralysis in most

Thrives in low hygiene environments – Warzones

Polio will be gone forever if we get rid of it once

Smallpox was removed from planet by global inoculation effort

Not wholly embraced – other diseases more prevalent

Tons of money has been poured into this effort

Measles disappeared until 2015 when a Disney guest spread it to other visitors who continued to spread it far and wide

Other diseases considered wiped out have made comebacks

Doctors have not prepared for these outbreaks

Polio vaccine is not without risk – 1 in 3 million will develop disease

Polio is slowly being fought – 2k cases in 2009

Endemic countries- Afghanistan, India, Nigeria, Pakistan

Setbacks have been caused by rumors and fear – some based on truth

1 paper with small sample size published links between vaccines and autism

10 coauthors of original paper has retracted support for conclusion

Threats and violence have reduced the number of volunteers

Practice Opening

Polio is a disease that once left millions dead or disabled and many more millions in fear of the devastation in can cause. Since we have found a vaccination for it, we have come a long way in defeating the disease once and for all, but there have been many setbacks all over the world that prevents us from eradicating it once and for all. Polio is highly contagious, and it thrives in low hygiene areas. As such, war zones and poverty stricken countries still struggle with the disease. It remains unlikely that we will be rid of the disease within the next 20 years as those setbacks have one grown stronger in the past few years.