'Final Push' On Polio

Virtually wiped out!! With a weakened live virus? Oh my....

You sound surprised. Didn't you know that's how it works? Smallpox was eradicated by inoculation using weakened cowpox virus.

I guess the journalist didn't know the difference between immunisation and inoculation...

• immunize or immunise verb (immunized, immunizing) medicine to produce artificial immunity to a disease in someone by injecting them with an antiserum or a treated antigen
• inoculate verb (inoculated, inoculating) 1 medicine to produce a mild form of a particular infectious disease in (a person or animal), and thereby create immunity by injecting a harmless form of an antigen which stimulates the body to produce its own antibodies • They were inoculated against smallpox. Compare immunize, vaccinate. 2 biol, etc to introduce a micro-organism, eg a bacterium or virus, into (a sterile medium) in order to start a culture, or into another organism, eg a rabbit, in order to produce antibodies (see under antibody) to that micro-organism. 3 literary or old use to imbue or instil someone, eg with ideas or feelings. inoculation noun. inoculative adj. inoculator noun.
  ETYMOLOGY: 15c: from Latin inoculare to implant.

http://www.chambersharrap.co.uk/chambers/features/chref/chref.py/main

Both are references to past threads....Surely you remember the great virus, dead or alive?, debate...

No, sorry missed that one. I was surprised at your comment...thanks for explaining.

Unless and/or until a rump religious group complains that immunizations are some sort of conspiracy...then back to square one.

Wiped out? What - like the Dodo, you mean?

I think smallpox is a better comparison. After all, we set out to wipe out smallpox...

Yeah, well, don't forget about Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria.

I remember my sugarcubes. Mom, though, remembers polio.

The article talks about those three countries - and how China has been reinfected by virus from Pakistan.

I too remember sugar cubes, and I remember seeing people living with the after effects of polio. We still had the collection tins when I was growing up.

I think the article means that everyone is vaccinated against polio. The virus is still viable and can be isolated in many stream sediments. To keep everyone inoculated is a lofty goal and India should be proud of its achievement. I can likely go to many western cities and check sediments in storm drains and find the virus. Swimming in or/and drinking dirty water can still be a problem for those not protected.

The article says the virus can't survive for long outside the human body. That would seem to contradict your statement about long term viability in sediments. Do you have any more information on that?

The virus will not survive long in the main stream of a water body but it can survive for several months in sediments. The human body is a main carrier of the virus and once no humans are infected and given enough time, it may wipe out the virus. There remain some primates that still can be infected but be asymptomatic. These primates will excrete the virus and may create some persistence. As they are asymptomatic, chances remain high that the virus will not be passed on to other primates. Still the oral virus is a form of the "live" virus and that is likely the one that will be excreted by new inoculations. The eradication program is good and will eventually work as long as all countries participate.

I was once involved in helping our Capital city, Ottawa, Canada, to clean the storm drain waters. That is a big problem in many older cities with combined sewers. The river sediments had many enterovirus and polio virus was commonly isolated. This was about 20 years ago and I know of no new polio cases occurring for at least that long. As a child in the 50s, I knew of several cases on the street I lived.

FYI Here are links to some interesting reading. The WHO article may be the more important of the two.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC291432/pdf/aem00234-0178.pdf

http://whqlibdoc.who.int/trs/WHO_TRS_639.pdf

Sorry for the redundancy (I've linked in other threads), but when a thread about Polio appears, where it doesn't get mentioned, I like to submit a link for what some, still may not be aware of (and most wouldn't think to search CR4 for the topic) -- the history of successfully treating Polio with intravenous vitamin C. Actually, there are several viral infections amenable to this treatment, as well as with the newer liposomal form.

There is no doubt that vaccination has been tremendously successful, but there continue to be instances where someone still contracts the disease. Vaccinations do not help at that point.

Thank you for posting that.

I wonder if massive doses of Vitamin C would have any effect on the Human Immuno-Virus? How would one persuade the researchers to test it? Perhaps it could be suggested as a placebo compound?!! (Or is that just too much irony?)

KISS

Good information and response to depending on Vitamin C for treating polio. We should also remember that there many other viruses in the environment that can still cause harm. Taking Vitamin C may provide some increase in one's immune system and thus if you contact a disease the symptoms may be less severe than one not taking the vitamin. There are many articles to be found supporting an immune boost but usually they only report small and limited boosts. Still good. Generally, vitamins alone are not preventative nor boost the immune system. The human immune system is after all a system. That means it works in concert with other factors, exercise, weight control, genetics, diet, life style (drinking and smoking), drugs .