Polio in Retreat: New Cases Nearly Eliminated Where Virus Once Flourished
The world's largest, most intractable source of polio may be on the brink of elimination. In India the states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh have produced more polio cases this decade--nearly 5,000--than any other location worldwide that has an active immunization campaign. Nigeria saw a handful more cases than the two Indian states because it effectively ceased immunizing in 2003 for a time due to false fears of the vaccine.Now, even at the peak of polio season, new cases in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and indeed all of India hover near zero--unprecedented, historic lows. In the past decade the peak months of August and September have seen an average of roughly 140 people, usually children, stricken by poliomyelitis, which attacks motor neurons in the nervous system and can cause paralysis. But for the past three weeks running, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh have hung zeros on the polio scoreboard, according to ...