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When polio is eradicated, every effort must be made to ensure that
wild polio virus is not similarly transmitted from the laboratory.
CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION
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ALL
31,000 institutions that have polio virus stocks including health
departments, hospitals and private companies have until Tuesday to
submit a report to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC is also asking labs that no longer need to work with
the virus to destroy any stocks they have.
Slightly more than half of the 31,000 institutions have
already submitted reports. Many have asked for extensions.
Federal officials have said polio could be eradicated
worldwide within two years.
Health officials learned a lesson from what happened with the
smallpox virus. That disease was eradicated from the world in 1977,
but less than a year after the self-congratulatory ceremonies, two
smallpox cases emerged from a lab in the United Kingdom. |
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When polio is
eradicated, every effort must be made to ensure that wild polio
virus is not similarly transmitted from the laboratory, the CDC
said.
Polio, which can cause paralysis and death, is not thought to
be as dangerous as smallpox as a bioterrorist weapon because fewer
than 1 percent of those infected with polio develop symptoms. People
around the world also have been vaccinated against polio for
decades. |
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But the
heightened focus on smallpox has made health officials much more
vigilant about the polio virus inventory, said Dr. Donald Hopkins,
associate executive director of the Carter Center in Atlanta and a
former CDC deputy director.
There are only 10 countries where polio is endemic, and last
year there were fewer than 500 cases worldwide.
The last U.S. outbreak happened in 1979.
© 2002 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.
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