To Finish Off Polio

Along with vaccination, antiviral drugs could play a key role in the eradication of poliovirus, but it’s unclear whether today’s candidate therapies will withstand the challenges of the clinic.

| 5 min read

Register for free to listen to this article
Listen with Speechify
0:00
5:00
Share

FLICKR, JULIEN HARNEISThe international spread of polio from Pakistan, Syria, and Cameroon to Afghanistan, Iraq, and Equatorial Guinea, respectively, which last month caused World Health Organization (WHO) officials to declare a public health emergency, serves as a devastating reminder that, although vaccination campaigns have squelched polio in most of the world, eradication is not complete. As of June 11, the virus has sickened 79 people in those three polio-exporting countries and 94 individuals worldwide this year alone. That’s up from 55 cases worldwide through June last year.

Vaccination campaigns and global public health initiatives have caused worldwide cases of polio infection to drop from more than 350,000 reported in 1988, giving researchers reason to hope the infectious disease was near defeat. But as the WHO points out on its website, “as long as a single child remains infected with poliovirus, children in all countries are at risk of contracting the disease.”

In addition to the formidable challenge of vaccinating every child to halt disease transmission, another problem threatens to keep complete eradication out of reach. After immunization with the live oral polio vaccine, which is used in most of the developing world, children with impaired antibody production fail to clear the infection. These immune-deficient patients can continue to excrete poliovirus in their ...

Interested in reading more?

Become a Member of

The Scientist Logo
Receive full access to more than 35 years of archives, as well as TS Digest, digital editions of The Scientist, feature stories, and much more!
Already a member? Login Here

Keywords

Meet the Author

  • Ashley P. Taylor

    This person does not yet have a bio.
Share
3D illustration of a gold lipid nanoparticle with pink nucleic acid inside of it. Purple and teal spikes stick out from the lipid bilayer representing polyethylene glycol.
February 2025, Issue 1

A Nanoparticle Delivery System for Gene Therapy

A reimagined lipid vehicle for nucleic acids could overcome the limitations of current vectors.

View this Issue
Enhancing Therapeutic Antibody Discovery with Cross-Platform Workflows

Enhancing Therapeutic Antibody Discovery with Cross-Platform Workflows

sartorius logo
Considerations for Cell-Based Assays in Immuno-Oncology Research

Considerations for Cell-Based Assays in Immuno-Oncology Research

Lonza
An illustration of animal and tree silhouettes.

From Water Bears to Grizzly Bears: Unusual Animal Models

Taconic Biosciences
Sex Differences in Neurological Research

Sex Differences in Neurological Research

bit.bio logo

Products

Photo of a researcher overseeing large scale production processes in a laboratory.

Scaling Lentiviral Vector Manufacturing for Optimal Productivity

Thermo Fisher Logo
Collage-style urban graphic of wastewater surveillance and treatment

Putting Pathogens to the Test with Wastewater Surveillance

An illustration of an mRNA molecule in front of a multicolored background.

Generating High-Quality mRNA for In Vivo Delivery with lipid nanoparticles

Thermo Fisher Logo
Tecan Logo

Tecan introduces Veya: bringing digital, scalable automation to labs worldwide