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Originally Posted by mamadelbosque
 I'd call that expected. Honestly, IMHO polio hasn't gone away. We've just renamed it: aseptic meningitus. That disease did not exist pre-vaccine. After the vaccine they *CHANGED THE DEFINITION OF POLIO*:
Pre-1954: Signs and symptoms included: ~ Partial or complete paralysis of one or more muscle groups ~Paralysiss detected on two exams 24 hours apart. After 1954 Signs and symtpoms included: ~Residual paralysis at 10-20 days and again at 50-70 days after onset of illness. So, what was once lumped in with "polio" we now call aseptic/viral meningitus. It hasn't gone away. We just call it something different. Polion never went away in the US or anywhere else, We just renamed it. Elsewhere they still test for the polio virus. 95-99% of cases of polio were *always* asymptomatic of paralysis (ie was just a cold). So, tbh, it could easily still be circulating in the US too. We just don't bother to test for it and call it viral/aseptic meningitus. |
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Originally Posted by WildKingdom
Where are you getting your definition of aseptic meningitis from? Because if you think that the definition of it is anything like what you just wrote, you are dead wrong. As a matter of fact, by definition aseptic meningitis does NOT have focal neurological symptoms, such as paralysis. Honestly, I am totally confused by your post.
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| This change in definition meant that in 1955 we started reporting a new disease, namely, paralytic poliomyelitis with a longer-lasting paralysis. Furthermore, diagnostic procedures have continued to be refined. Coxsackie virus infections and aseptic meningitis have been distinguished from paralytic poliomyelitis. Prior to 1954 large numbers of these cases undoubtedly were mislabeled as paralytic poliomyelitis. Thus, simply by changes in diagnostic criteria, the number of paralytic cases was predetermined to decrease in 1955-1957, whether or not any vaccine was used. |
| I am agnostic [as to the effectiveness of Salk] like Dr. Kleinman. I am sorry that I do not know what the effectiveness of the Salk vaccine is. Since nothing else is available, there seems to be no alternative but to push the use of it. I don't think we should do so in ignorance, nor too complacently, believing that as long as we have some partially effective there is no need to have something better. The USPHS is, in effect, saying, "Let's face it: we were burned the last time by getting into this business too quickly; so this time we are going to be more cautious." By being more cautious, we may make a mistake by accepting a better polio vaccine too slowly. And that's what I am trying to emphasize: They must realize they are making this mistake possible. The issue must be pursued. |
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Originally Posted by nicky85
Even in third world countries where polio vaccination is well under way, polio continues to be epidemic. This was an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal: (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...239615022.html) Bill Gates' polio vaccination efforts haven't led to an eradication of the disease. They really need to focus on clean water and sanitation first.
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The basket cases of the world. Many poor countries that have high vaccination rates and poor access to water and sanitation (namely, places with less water but accessible populations and peaceful though controlled conditions, like Turkmenistan) have much healthier populations.
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Originally Posted by EdnaMarie
Moreover, just a few years ago, polio was contained to four or five countries. Somalia, Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, where else? In 2001, say. Sudan, possibly?
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Originally Posted by WHO, 2005 Sept. 22
The 19 previously polio-free countries suffering importations of poliovirus as a result of the 2003-2005 outbreak in west and central Africa are: Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, CĂ´te d'Ivoire, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Indonesia, Mali, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Togo and Yemen.
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| This year, the number of polio cases caused by the vaccine has doubled: 124 children have so far been paralyzed, compared to 62 in 2008, out of about 42 million children vaccinated. For every case of paralysis, there are hundreds of other children who don't develop symptoms, but pass on the disease. |
| They have since identified polio cases linked to the vaccine dating back as far as 2005 |
| But in rare instances, as the virus passes through unimmunized children, it can mutate into a strain dangerous enough to ignite new outbreaks, particularly if immunization rates in the rest of the population are low. |
| "Nigeria is almost a case study in what happens when you don't follow the recommendations," Kew said. |
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Originally Posted by freestylemama
Isn't the issue in Nigeria that they're using the live (oral) vaccine? Can someone explain how that pertains to the spread in the former countries of the USSR when the article linked at the beginning said that the increase in incidence is wild? I'm confused.
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| As well, 13 other countries in Africa have been affected by poliovirus linked to Nigeria, including Benin, Botswana, Burkina-Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethipia, Ghana, Guinea, Mali, and Togo. |
| On April 13, 2010, Tajikistan notified WHO of a sharp increase in reported acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) cases. On April 20, the designated WHO regional reference laboratory in Moscow, Russia, identified WPV type 1 (WPV1) in stool specimens from persons with AFP cases; the WPV1 was genetically most closely related to WPV1 isolated in Uttar Pradesh, India, in August 2009. As of November 1, 2010, Tajikistan had reported 458 laboratory-confirmed WPV1 cases from 35 of 61 administrative territories, with paralysis onset dates occuring February 1--July 4 (Figure 1). Ninety (20%) patients were aged <1 year, 208 (45%) were aged 1--4 years, 107 (23%) were aged 5--14 years, and 53 (12%) were aged ≥15 years. Early in the outbreak, the majority of cases were in children aged <5 years; after week 20, 78% of cases were in persons aged ≥5 years (Figure 1). Twenty-six (5.7%) patients died; 15 were aged <5 years, eight were aged 5--14 years, and three were aged ≥15 years. The outbreak spread to three other polio-free countries,* where 18 cases were confirmed, bringing to 476 the total number of cases in the European Region (Figure 2). Russia reported 14 cases following at least five independent importations, with onsets during May 4--September 25 (confirmed May 31). Turkmenistan reported three cases in June (confirmed June 27), and Kazakhstan reported one case in August (confirmed October 5) (Table 1). Nine of these 18 patients were aged <5 years. |
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Originally Posted by carriebft
mutated vaccine virus takes large populations of unvaccinated to happen; Nigeria's rash decision to suspend the vaccination campaigns caused a lot of this issue.
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