2 out of 3 kinds of polio have been eliminated, health officials to announce

[Shiloh]

Source: https://globalnews.ca/news/6071272/...been-eliminated-health-officials-to-announce/

2 out of 3 kinds of polio have been eliminated, health officials to announce
By Kate Kelland Reuters
Posted October 23, 2019 9:39 am

Global health officials will on Thursday announce a partial victory in the decades-long fight to end polio, with a second of three strains of the crippling virus certified as eradicated worldwide.

The ending of wild polio virus type 3 – also known as WPV3 – will be the third human disease-causing pathogen to be eradicated in history, after smallpox was declared wiped out in 1980 and wild polio virus type 2 (WPV2) in 2015...

 

[Gert van der Hoek]

Two out of three wild poliovirus strains eradicated

Global eradication of wild poliovirus type 3 declared on World Polio Day

24 October 2019

In an historic announcement on World Polio Day, an independent commission of experts concluded that wild poliovirus type 3 (WPV3) has been eradicated worldwide. Following the eradication of smallpox and wild poliovirus type 2, this news represents a historic achievement for humanity.

“The achievement of polio eradication will be a milestone for global health. Commitment from partners and countries, coupled with innovation, means of the three wild polio serotypes, only type one remains,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization and Chair of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) Polio Oversight Board “We remain fully committed to ensuring that all necessary resources are made available to eradicate all poliovirus strains. We urge all our other stakeholders and partners to also stay the course until final success is achieved,” he added.