It is a huge success – especially in times of Corona: Africa is free from wild polio. An independent commission is expected to announce this on Tuesday. The disease primarily affects children under the age of five and can be paralyzed within hours. The virus is usually transmitted by smear infection, but droplet infections are also possible. It can only reproduce in humans (and a few species of apes) and can only be transmitted from person to person.
With massive vaccination campaigns, polio has recently been eradicated in Nigeria in the Borno region and in South Sudan. The UN health authority WHO played a central role in this with the “Global Polio Eradication Initiative”, a cooperation between governments, the Unicef children’s aid organization, the Bill and Melissa Gates Foundation, the Rotarians and the American “Center for Disease Control” CDC.
But the danger persists – because the wild type of poliovirus is still found in two countries around the world: Pakistan and Afghanistan.
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