We realized when reading last week about a Rotary Club of Magnolia project about polio that we had not thought about the horrible disease in years, probably decades.
That is because the Salk vaccine all but eliminated the debilitating disease in our area of the world. The virus that would rob individuals of the use of their legs and the ability to breathe on their own was once so common that most of us of a certain age knew of at least one or two people suffering from it.
Polio reached an epidemic level in the U.S. in the 1950s, but thanks to the vaccine developed by Dr. Jonas Salk and an oral vaccination developed by Dr. Albert Sabin, no cases have been reported in American since 1979, according to information in a Banner-News article last week. The article reported that, since 1979, 2.5 billion children in 121 countries have been immunized, leading to a 99.9 percent drop in reported cases.
So we were surprised to learn that there are countries in the world today where the battle against polio has not been won.
Three countries still see polio regularly: Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Nigeria. The primary reasoning for the prevalence of the virus in those societies is due to terrorist organizations blocking children from the simple, quick oral vaccine, the article reported. By letting the strain persist, populations are still at risk, said Magnolia Rotary Club President Margaret West.
Rotary International is working with UNICEF, the World Health Organization, Centers for Disease Control, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to take polio vaccinations to still-infected areas. It is not a simple task. The areas are remote and it is a challenge to keep vaccine crews safe from terrorists.
But if the job is not accomplished in the next 10 years, the scourge of polio could once again be a worldwide problem, according to West, who said, “It only takes one traveler who has been infected with polio to bring it back to the United States.”
As its part on the Rotary International project to wipe out polio, the local club is seeking to raise $7,500 in October, which will be double-matched by the Gates Foundation. “We can turn that $2,500 into $7,500,” said West.
We commend Rotary International and the local club in taking on this critical battle to finish eliminating a terrible virus that we were not aware still existed to the extent that it does. We urge the community to support the effort.