Polio (poliomyelitis), is a very dangerous, potentially deadly disease that can invade and infect a person’s brain and spinal cord and cause paralysis. Polio an be prevented with the administration of one of two vaccines- IPV or OPV. Inactivated polio vaccine (IPV or Salk vaccine), given in the form of a shot, is the only form given in the United States since 2000. It consists of inactivated virus particles of all three serotypes and requires a series of injections in order to achieve maximum protection. Oral polio vaccine (OPV or the Sabin vaccine) consists of attenuated strains and has the advantage of being cheaper allowing for administration in other, third-world countries. Both vaccines cause antibody production to protect against viral invasion in the central nervous system.
There are only 3 countries in the world where polio is still considered an endemic– Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan. Currently, Pakistan is running rampant with cases of polio, a sharp rise from 12 cases in 2018 to 91 cases in 2019. With children ranging from six to 66 months old being infected. Africa is also grappling with increased cases in four new countries- the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Benin, Ghana, and Togo. Finally, the Philippines has seen its first case of polio since 2000 with numbers now reaching at least six cases.
The UN secretary General, Antonio Guterres is urging world leaders to come together to eliminate polio from across the world. Guterres declared that eradicating polio off of the world map was the UN government’s first priority. He is making strides as well with the goal to vaccinate 39.6 million children under the age of five using nearly 95,000 workers going house to house. The effort of Antonio Guterres is quite inspiring. I know the OPV vaccine is less expensive but at such a large number, the cost to the UN is probably insane. This is why first world countries where the virus has been eradicated- America, Europe, South East Asia and the Western Pacific- need to pick up some slack and help front the cost.
jill and micro 