In 2002, the World Health Organization (WHO) European Region was declared polio-free [1]. This week, 21-27 April 2012, the seventh European Immunization Week highlights the ten-year anniversary of the polio-free status [2]. In spite of a large outbreak of imported wild poliovirus in Tajikistan in 2010, the Region has retained its polio-free status, as confirmed by the European Regional Certific...

Immunization is an important cost effective strategy for child survival(l,2). With the inclusion of heat labile oral polio and measles vaccine in the Universal Immunization Programme, maintenance of cold chain is of paramount importance(3). Inadequate management of cold chain may reduce the potency of the oral polio vaccine to almost zero. In India 15 to 30% cases of poliomyelitis, occur in chi...

Israel was certified as polio-free country in June 2002, along with the rest of the World Health Organization European Region. Some 11 years later, wild-type polio virus ₁ (WPV₁) was isolated initially from routine sewage samples collected between 7 and 13 April 2013 in two cities in the Southern district. WPV₁-specific analysis of samples indicated WPV₁ introduction into that area in early Feb...

BACKGROUND Despite provision of free childhood vaccinations, less than half of all Ugandan infants are fully vaccinated. This study compares women with some secondary schooling to those with only primary schooling with regard to their infants' vaccination status. METHODS A community-based prospective cohort study conducted between January 2006 and May 2008 in which 696 pregnant women were fol...

The 15-decade drive to control and eradicate polio through immunization [1] has benefited from the availability of 2 excellent vaccines, the inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV) of Salk and colleagues, licensed in 1955, and the live attenuated oral poliovirus vaccine (OPV) of Sabin, licensed in 1961. The 2 vaccines have complementary advantages, and both have played—and continue to play—importa...

We describe a newborn with neonatal meningitis caused by an enterovirus. The case illustrated how it may be easy to miss these viruses given the limitation of virological tests. Enteroviruses or EV are RNA viruses broadly divided into polio and non polio groups. Non-polio enteroviruses include echoviruses, coxsackie A and B viruses and a number of unclassified enteroviruses (Bennett, 2009). The...