Polio Outbreak Spurs Strong Stance From WHO
Since Dr. Jonas Salk's polio vaccine was released to the public in 1955, the dangerous disease has all but been eliminated. Poliomyelitis (polio) is a notoriously sneaky affliction, showing symptoms in only 0.5% of cases but resulting in paralysis and death when it enters the spinal cord. It's transferred from feces-to-mouth, and it's why Franklin Delano Roosevelt used a wheelchair.
Between January and April of this year, 68 known cases of polio have emerged. While this number doesn't seem like a lot, health officials are concerned because the larger-than-normal outbreak has appeared during the "lull" season when polio outbreaks should be few and far between. The amount is almost three times as large as this time last year.
So severe is the outbreak that the World Health Organization has put its foot down.
For only the second time since they passed their 2007 regulations that allowed them to demand more concrete results, WHO has imposed travel restrictions on the three countries where the outbreaks have occurred: Pakistan, Syria and Cameroon. Although WHO technically has no power to enforce these restrictions, it is a stronger stance than they have taken in the past.
In addition to that, WHO has called for all citizens from these countries to be vaccinated before traveling for up to a year after the last "exported case". They also recommended that travelers from Afghanistan, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Iraq, Israel, Nigeria and Somalia receive the vaccination. Countries could use WHO's declaration as a basis for denying travelers from these countries lacking vaccination cards.
Unfortunately, mass vaccination in these countries will be difficult. In Syria, citizens flee bombings and the government has been unable to reach an estimated 300,000 children, and radical groups in Pakistan and Cameroon have taken violent measures to prevent vaccination. While it's easier to provide vaccines in refugee groups, the fact remains that the most vulnerable people remain unprotected.
With warmer weather coming for many of these areas, polio cases are expected to take an upward turn.














