Strategic Elimination of Polio - Research Paper Example

The initial symptoms of the disease include fever, fatigue, headache, vomiting, stiffness in the neck and pain in the limbs. In the rarest of the conditions, it causes permanent paralysis. Research has been insufficient to determine the cure for polio. This leaves prevention as the only feasible alternative to control the virus. The prevention is done through immunization of attenuated forms of the virus to induce the body to develop natural immunity against the virus (John, 2002).
Cases of poliomyelitis have declined in recent decades but it is still too early to celebrate. The elimination of the second of the three-poliovirus serotypes; type 2 was eliminated in 1999. This marked a milestone achievement and evidence that the global resolve to eliminate paralytic poliomyelitis is attainable. Improvements in immunization and continuous surveillance are ideal in the completion of eradication of polio (Samwel et al, 1991). The feat of polio eradication is highly supported by polio programs, innovations such as a global positioning system, mapping, and strategies of immunization at transit points. It is strategic to declare polio as a global health emergency to arouse concerted efforts by countries globally to eliminate the disease.
The shift from the use of oral polio vaccine (OPV) to inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) is timely and appropriate. This is because of the magnitude of reduced effectiveness of OPV in locations with a high burden of enteric pathogens and diarrheal disease. This challenge can be
Strategic Elimination of Polio
more pronounced in some areas leaving children who have received several doses still vulnerable to polio attack. The development of viral genetic sequencing technology reveals that OPV viruses are capable of regaining fitness and neurovirulence when continuously transmitted from one person to the other. Based on the information on genetic attenuation, it is imperative that the true elimination of polio means zero transmission of poliovirus. It is notable that vaccine viruses apart from being genetically prone to reversal to neurovirulence, are also epidemiologically prone to transmission to unvaccinated children thus causing polio outbreaks. To reduce the cost of the administration of IPV, it is important to give IPV intradermally in fractional doses. The best solution to the administration of IPV involves the simpler solution of giving the vaccine through a UIP schedule, which would cost more but is immunologically highly effective (John, 1993).

It is therefore imperative that the final push toward eradication exists as the highest priority. Dr.Freeden stated that if polio control does not surpass the finish line, then expensive control measures for the indefinite future are inevitable (Sood et al, 2008).