While searching through the National Geographic Magazine's website, I came across an article about Polio. Polio is a disease that is contagious and has devastated vast numbers of people all through history. The recommended vaccination is called an IPV, but an earlier version was invented by Albert Sabin in 1964, and is called an OPV (oral polio vaccination). Moreover, Jonas Salk invented an even earlier version in 1955. Polio is most commonly seen in children under five years old and the most severe forms may cause muscles to weaken and therefore leave an individual paralyzed or dead. Although polio has not been seen in the Western Hemisphere since 1991, and UN campaigns for vaccination are 99% successful, cases are suddenly becoming increasingly common in many countries in Africa and Asia. Countries such as Nigeria and India are seeing a gigantic leap in the number of people affected from 2005 to 2006. For example, the number of people with polio reported in India in 2005 was 35, but in 2006, it was 249. Due to staggering numbers such as those in India, scientist and researchers believe that polio may be making a comeback as an international epidemic.
Many may be wondering why this disease has made such a comeback recently, and scientist, although unsure, have a few guesses. For instance, with the number of international travelers on the rise constantly, the diseases could be transferring from country to country with great ease. In addition, contaminated water and over population in countries with poor sanitary conditions may be a cause. People in less informed areas of these countries also seem to be receiving inaccurate information about vaccination, such as the medicine is laced with a drug which causes HIV or infertility. Large Muslim populations in Middle Eastern countries seem to be receiving the most incorrect information, and therefore more and more people are too scared to be treated for their disease. Besides the UN, which has been taking strides to stop polio since early in history, most countries are taking it upon themselves to help their people as well. Hopefully, with all the work being put towards keeping polio at bay, the disease will not spread much farther, and will not become what many expect it to be: an epidemic.
2 comments:
Out of the epidemics listed in here, Polio is definitly the one i have heard the most about. But what epidemic was the most harmful during this era?
I am also wondering what was the most dangerous epidemic during our lifetime. What will be the most dangerous in the next 10-15 years? Is the bird-flu really something that people should be concerned about, or merely media-hype?
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