By Staff
Today's 50th anniversary of Dr. Jonas Salk's polio vaccine marks one of the most important milestones in medical history.
The Salk vaccine, together with the oral polio vaccine later developed by Dr. Albert Sabin, opened the door to an organized, scientific assault on polio, to which Michigan Rotary Clubs have donated $2,579,601 to this goal in the past three years.
Polio vanished quickly from the developed world. Widespread use of the Salk vaccine rapidly decreased the number of polio cases in the United States from 18,308 in 1954 to 2,525 in 1960, the last year the Salk vaccine was used exclusively.
Yet many don't realize that polio is still threatening children today.
Less developed countries lacking adequate infrastructure to support decent sanitation and routine immunizations have been unable to protect their children from polio, despite these effective vaccines.
In the 1980s, 1,000 children were infected by this crippling disease every day in 125 countries.
In the two decades since Rotary and its global partners launched the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, cases have been slashed by 99 percent, with 1,263 cases reported all year in 2004.
Today, there are six polio endemic countries - Nigeria, India, Pakistan, Niger, Afghanistan and Egypt - and five countries where transmission has been re-established, the Sudan, Central African Republic, Cote d'Ivoire, Chad and Burkina Faso.
Asia has nearly cut its cases in half from 336 i 2003 to 193 in 2004, with 136 cases in India, 54 in Pakistan and four in Afghanistan.
That's why Rotary and its global partners at the World Health Organization, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and UNICEF remain dedicated to reaching every child with the oral polio vaccine to eradicate polio worldwide. It will be the topic of Rotary's program Thursday noon at Elks Lodge 889.