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July 15, 2002

INTERNATIONAL IMMUNIZATION NEWS

"WHO Takes Another Step Towards Polio Eradication"

Lancet (www.thelancet.com) (06/29/02) Vol. 359, No. 9325, P. 2255; Ashraf, Haroon

The World Health Organization (WHO) recently declared that indigenous wild poliovirus has been eradicated from the 51 countries in the European region.  Europe joins the Americas, which were declared polio-free in 1994, and the Western Pacific, which received polio-free status in 2000.  Operation MECACAR (eastern Mediterranean, Caucasus, Central Asian Republics)--led by the WHO and including UNICEF, Rotary International, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control--was a key to Europe's successful elimination of the virus.  The program involved vaccinating 60 million children under the age of five years with two extra doses of the polio vaccine between 1995 and 1998, with additional campaigns in the highest-risk European nations through 2002.  However, Joseph Smith, head of the European Regional Commission for the Certification of Poliomyelitis Eradication, cautioned that "our work does not stop here; throughout the European region, ongoing vaccination and surveillance is vital. The risk of poliovirus being imported into Europe will continue until we eradicate polio globally."

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