Two of three polio viruses eradicated in "historic" step -WHO

By Kate Kelland
LONDON, Oct 24 (Reuters) - The World Health Organization
welcomed an "historic step" towards a polio-free world on
Thursday as an expert panel certified that the second of three
types of the crippling virus has been eradicated globally.
The announcement by the Global Commission for the
Certification of Poliomyelitis Eradication means that only wild
polio virus type 1 is still circulating, after type 2 was
declared eradicated in 2015, and type 3 this week.
Global polio cases have been cut by more than 99% since
1988, but type 1 polio virus is still endemic in Pakistan and
Afghanistan, where it has infected a total of 88 people this
year. That is a resurgence from a record low global annual
figure of 22 cases in 2017.
"The eradication of wild polio virus type 3 is a major
milestone towards a polio-free world, but we cannot relax," said
Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO regional director for Africa.
Seth Berkley, chief executive of the GAVI vaccine alliance,
said it was "a tremendous victory in the fight against polio".
Polio invades the nervous system and can cause irreversible
paralysis within hours. It cannot be cured, but infection can be
prevented by vaccination - and a dramatic reduction in cases
worldwide in recent decades has been due to intense national and
regional immunization campaigns in babies and children.
In unvaccinated populations, however, polio viruses can
re-emerge and spread swiftly. Cases of vaccine-derived polio can
also occur in places where immunity is low and sanitation is
poor, as vaccinated people can excrete the virus, putting the
unvaccinated at risk.
The Philippines last month said it was planning an emergency
vaccination campaign after polio re-surfaced and caused the
first two recorded polio cases there for 20 years. Moeti urged governments to be vigilant: "Countries must
strengthen routine immunization to protect communities, ramp up
routine surveillance so that we are able to detect even the
slightest risk of polio re-emerging," she said in a statement.

(Editing by David Evans)