Poliomyelitis (polio) is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus. It invades the nervous system, and can cause crippling paralysis, sometimes in a matter of hours. Polio generally affects children under the age of three, but adults can contract it as well.
The virus enters the body through the mouth and multiplies in the intestine. Initial symptoms include fever, weakness, headache, vomiting and pain in the limbs. A lifelong paralysis can set in quickly. Among those paralyzed, 5%-10% die when their breathing muscles become immobilized. Many of those infected with the virus will show no symptoms at all but can pass the virus on to others.
Polio is incurable but it can easily be prevented through immunization. Polio vaccine, given multiple times, almost always protects a child for life. Through quality vaccination and disease-reporting (surveillance) systems, the Western Pacific Region has been polio-free since 19 March 1997 when the Region’s last case caused by an indigenous (locally circulating) poliovirus was reported in Cambodia. Polio continues to occur in other parts of the world.
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Polio Eradication: laboratory containment phase 1
The WHO Western Pacific Region not only has stayed free of wild poliovirus in its populations since certification in October 2000, but also has identified all wild poliovirus infectious and potentially infectious materials stored in biomedical laboratories. This is the important other half of polio eradication. All 37 countries and areas in the Region have completed surveys of relevant biomedical laboratories and established national inventories (see details here: WER No. 37, 2009, 84 and MMWR 2009 / 58(35);975-978)
following the requirements laid out for phase 1 wild poliovirus laboratory containment in the WHO Global Action Plan, second edition (GAP II).
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Last update: September 2009