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Polio & Post-Polio in the News
October 17, 2006
Global health officials say polio eradication will take more time; hopes for ridding the world of polio by 2007 questioned.
The World Health Organization and its partners had originally hoped to eradicate the disease globally by the end of 2005. Now, it is unclear whether the extended 2007 eradication deadline can be met.
Read the AP article on wtopnews.com
INTERNATIONAL:
AFRICA AUSTRALIA CANADA EUROPE INDIA IRELAND KOREA
AFRICA
OCTOBER 17, 2006
Kenya reports refugee polio case
Kenya reports its first case of polio in 22 years, discovered in a three-year-old girl in a Somali refugee camp. READ the article in BBC News ...
OCTOBER 13, 2006
Polio screening for Hajj pilgrims
Saudi Arabia says Hajj pilgrims from states where polio is endemic must have immunisation certificates. READ the article in BBC News ...
JUNE 23, 2006
Outbreak Update: Namibia (from Global Polio Eradication Initiative)
The first of three planned National Immunization Days (NIDs) was competed in Namibia following an outbreak of poliovirus affecting mostly adults. READ MORE ...
MARCH 9, 2005
Strain of Polio From West Africa Stirs Fears in Ethiopia, U.N. Says
New York Times, by Donald G. McNeil, Jr.
The resurgent wave of polio making its way across Africa has reached Ethiopia, which is now trying to raise $15 million to stop it, World Health Organization officials said yesterday.
Ethiopia is one of Africa's most populous countries, with 68 million people, so the danger there is particularly great, the officials said. It had been polio-free since 2002.
"This just blows our planning to helter-skelter," said Dr. David L. Heymann, the W.H.O. director general's representative for polio eradication. "Every time a new country comes on line, we have to blow our budget. It's very frustrating." Article available with New York Times membership
FEBRUARY 11, 2005
New Concern on Polio Among Mecca Pilgrims
New York Times, by Donald G. McNeil, Jr.
A case of polio reached Mecca in Saudi Arabia, Islam's holy city, just before two million Muslims made the annual pilgrimage there last month, and World Health Organization officials now say the disease could spread to other countries, carried by returning pilgrims. Article available with New York Times membership
SEPTEMBER 23, 2004
The New England Journal of Medicine (351:13) reports that ... "During the past 12 months, poliovirus has been spreading to states in Nigeria that were previously free of poliomyelitis. Moreover, global surveillance for acute flaccid paralysis — involving the genomic sequencing of each wild poliovirus that is detected — has demonstrated that wild poliovirus genetically linked to parent viruses in northern Nigeria has spread to 12 other previously polio-free countries in sub-Saharan Africa." ... "Rumors of 'contaminated' polio vaccine ignited a controversy in Kano State, in northern Nigeria, in mid-2003 and led to the immediate and official suspension of immunization activities." ... "As a result ... between January 1 and September 1, 2004, infection with wild poliovirus has been confirmed in 491 paralyzed children in Nigeria." ... "Planning is therefore underway in 23 western and central African countries for synchronized national immunization days in October and November and again in early 2005 to interrupt transmission of wild poliovirus in Africa." Purchase or read the complete article at www.nejm.org.
AUGUST 25, 2004
A polio outbreak that has spread from Northern Nigeria, increasing the number of countries in Africa where polio is now again appearing to over a dozen, up from two. As of August 24, 2004, the number of cases reported globally is 602.
AUSTRALIA
Neena Bhandari published in the Sydney Morning Herald. READ the article ... (Connect here, then place your cursor at the bottom of the IMAGE and click on the icon (to enlarge the image for easier reading).
CANADA
SEPTEMBER 6, 2005
Canada Issues Polio Vaccination Stamp
At the height of the epidemic, Canadian scientists played an integral part in the development of a polio vaccine. It was in the University of Toronto's Connaught Medical Research laboratories that methods for mass-producing the polio virus for use in a vaccine created by Dr. Jonas Salk were devised. Both Canada and the USA began conducting field trials in April 1954. A year later, however, the entire USA vaccination program was halted after 79 children who had received vaccine produced by an American laboratory contracted polio. The Canadian government was faced with a tough decision. Paul Martin Sr., Canada's Minister of Health and Welfare, had strong personal reasons for wanting the vaccination program to continue. He himself had contracted polio in 1907, and his son, Paul Martin Jr., the current Prime Minister, had overcome the disease in 1946. Thus, Martin decided to continue the mass vaccinations, and Canada's confidence in the Salk vaccine renewed confidence around the world.
SPRING 2005
An exhibit of the development of the 50th anniversary of the development of the polio vaccine is now at the Alberta Provincial Museum. See the brochure from the exhibit.
EUROPE
WINTER 2004European post-polio veterans speak to members of the European Parliament
Johan Bijttebier, Post-Polio België, and Peter Jay, British Polio Fellowship, (third and fourth from left, respectively) address members of the European Parliament.
Twelve polio survivors, representing six countries (Belgium, France, Germany, Holland, Ireland, United Kingdom) in the European Union, met in November 2003 to consolidate their efforts on behalf of the Union’s polio survivors and to highlight their problems before members of the European Parliament. Europe’s post-polio organizations are invited to join this newly organized group called European Polio Union (EPU), which will meet again June 5-6, 2004.
INDIA
FEBRUARY 2008Remembering uncle - the man behind Jaipur Foot
© Neena Bhandari, Indo Asian News Service
Each year, when I returned home from Australia for our winter sojourn, spending an evening with "uncle" – as I had come to address Dr. Pramod Karan Sethi after our four-decade long association – had become a ritual. Sadly, this year I was too late.
A recipient of the Padma Shri and Magasaysay awards, Sethi, who provided new hope to many an amputee with the development of an artificial limb (Jaipur Foot) in association with master artisan Ram Chander Sharma (Masterji), and improved callipers for polio patients, passed away January 5, 2008, at the age of 80.
Sethi and Sharma made a foot of vulcanised rubber but found it too heavy and stiff to suit the Indian lifestyle, where most chores are done by squatting on the floor. Amputees were discarding the solid-ankle-cushion-heel (SACH) feet and returning to using crutches.
By 1970, they modified the design, filling the shell with sponge rubber and using a stiff piece for the metatarsals, adding microcellular rubber for the heel, cutting wedges at its upper end to make a universal joint.
The modified design was more flexible, allowing the wearer to climb trees, pedal bicycles and use Indian style toilets. Sudha Chandran, in the Bollywood film "Nache Mayuri", could perform a dance sequence wearing the Jaipur Foot.
What made the Jaipur Foot unique was its affordability and the design that could be made by a traditional craftsperson with local materials. The prosthesis, which lasts more than five years and costs about Rs.1,500, is available in over 25 countries and has given a new lease of life to many landmine victims.
The prosthesis was first used outside India for the landmine victims in Afghanistan and it continues to be in demand in Cambodia, Iraq, Kenya, Bangladesh and Nicaragua. Sharma works for the Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahayata Samiti, a charity established in 1975, which manufactures and provides the Jaipur Foot free to thousands of poor people.
The once leafy street, Vivekananda Marg, was lined mostly by doctors' residences, including Sethi's, and it is here that I spent my childhood with my maternal grandparents after contracting poliomyelitis.
Uncle had diagnosed my case, along with that of many other children who began pouring in at the Sawai Man Singh (SMS) hospital during that fateful month of October 1967. During those days, there was little awareness about polio in India and Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) was imported from the former Soviet Union, but there was a snag: the cold chain, critical for maintaining the potency of OPV in transport, was very poor.
The Indian health authorities classified it as a polio epidemic, which had infected the children involved before the vaccine was administered.
My first memories of Sethi, dressed in blue denims and Kolhapuris, with young interns and doctors keeping pace during his morning rounds at the SMS Hospital in Jaipur, are still vivid.
His presence had an aura and even as a three-year-old, I knew it was time to stop mischief and start doing my physiotherapy exercises. In those days, callipers were made of straight heavy metal rods worn with big boots, which children like me hated. Must say, I was in awe of him and did fear his presence though he was always very gentle.
Many callipers on, from a doctor-patient relationship, we became friends and discussed all aspects of polio, post polio syndrome and new designs of orthotic aids using polymers and composites.
Last year I had expressed my frustration to him at being unable to find a good orthotist in Sydney. As luck would have it, I finally found a young talented orthotist, who fitted me with one of the most comfortable callipers. Alas, I was looking forward to Sethi's input in the design.
He was a voracious reader with an amazing memory and profound knowledge on a range of subjects. He loved nature and his knowledge of plants would put a botanist to shame.
He was born in the holy city of Varanasi in November 1927 and his father was a professor of physics at the Benares Hindu University. He studied medicine in India and the United Kingdom and received many awards during his chartered career as an internationally renowned orthopaedic surgeon and inventor of the Jaipur Foot. He also received the Dr. B.C. Roy Award and Rotary International's award for world understanding and peace.
He is survived by his wife Sulochana, son and three daughters.
Uncle's enormous contribution will continue to bring cheer to millions of physically challenged across the world.
The end.
IRELAND
Comprehensive Survey of Polio Survivors from the Post-Polio Support Group of Ireland
KOREA
Posted January 2005
Nobel Laureate Commentary on Disability Worldwide
Read the article from The Korea Times, by Amartya Sen and James D. Wolfensohn. Amartya Sen is Lamont University Professor at Harvard University, recipient of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Economic Science and former honorary president of OXFAM. James D. Wolfensohn is president of the World Bank Group and a former board chairman of the International Federation of Multiple Sclerosis Societies.
SCOTLAND
The Scottish Post-Polio Network (SPPN) have raised a petition with the Scottish Parliament Petitions Committee. This is an official petition run by the International Teledemocracy Centre (ITC) on behalf of the Public Petitions Committee (PPC) of the Scottish Parliament. The SPPN ask you to go online to add your signature and enter into the discussion which will give strength to this petition.
UNITED KINGDOM
"Polio and Post-Polio News" from Lincolnshire Post-Polio Network.