After seven months of being polio free, a new case of the disease has surfaced in Fata, prompting health officials to launch a mass immunization drive. Fata is a federally administrated tribal area that is semi-autonomous and located in northwestern Pakistan in an area that borders Afghanistan. The case involves a two-year-old child who, officials […]

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has been fighting to eradicate polio for years, and it looks like the battle is coming close to an end. World health authorities predict that as soon as the end of this year or early 2017 the world will be polio free. The only remaining countries with known cases are […]

Earlier this week Mozambique, a country in southeastern Africa, has been confirmed as being polio free. The announcement came after a meeting of the Africa Regional Certification Commission for Polio Eradication (ARCCPE), an organization that advises the World Health Organization (WHO) on the progress of polio eradication across multiple African countries, including Chad and Niger. […]

With the world on target to becoming polio free, Rotary International District 6800 is shifting its focus to juvenile crime. Called the Rotary Family and Youth Initiative, the project is backed by 39 chapters spread across Mississippi and calls for slashing juvenile delinquency by 50 percent in five years. So far Rotary leaders have met […]

Guillain-Barré syndrome, a neurological condition linked to the Zika virus, could be targeted with existing polio detection systems, World Health Organization (WHO) officials said earlier this week. In February, the WHO declared Zika an international emergency and the UN agency believes that it could lead to birth defects. However, surveillance systems in place at the […]

Henry Daniell, a professor of biochemistry in the School of Dental Medicine at Penn State University, has developed a vaccine using plant-based materials that could complement the current polio vaccine. In a new study funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation that he coauthored with colleagues from the FDA and CDC, Daniell describes how […]

Despite an instance of Vaccine Derived Polio Virus (VDPV) detected earlier this month in India, Union Health Minister J. P. Nadda says that the country remains polio free and that there’s no need to panic. The strain of the polio virus was detected in laboratory tests of samples collected from a sewage treatment plant.  “I […]

Chen Shengkuan, a father living in China, suspects that his son was kidnapped and now he’s on hunt to find him. In China it’s common practice for the wealthy to kidnap male children of the poor to ensure that they will have an heir for their business empires. Shengkuan believes that this is what happened […]

Naveed Butt, a Pakistani bodybuilder, doesn’t let his polio diagnosis get in his way of competing. He spends most days in the gym preparing for the Mr. Universe and Mr. Olympia titles, which will be held later this year in the United States. Over the years he has won numerous medals and awards, including the […]

After the death of her husband Jeff Hall, a popular English football player, in 1959 as a result of polio, Dawn Clements made it her mission to educate members of her community in Birmingham, England about the dangers of the debilitating disease. Last month Clements passed away at the age of 79 after battling lung […]