Polio virus is ‘enemy of humankind’

Sixty years after the first successful polio vaccine trial, the disease has been wiped out in much of the world, but violence, conspiracy theories and lack of cash keep it from disappearing. “The world is closer than ever to eradicating polio,” said Oliver Rosenbauer, spokesman for the World Health Organisation’s Global Polio Eradication Initiative. In 2012, there were just 223 infections worldwide, compared to 360 000 in 1988, when the United Nations launched a campaign to eliminate the highly contagious illness that causes paralysis and sometimes death, particularly in young children. All but six of last year’s cases were in three countries: Nigeria (122), Pakistan (58) and Afghanistan (37), according to the WHO. The success seen in India, which has had no new cases in two years, shows that eradicating polio is “technically feasible,” Rosenbauer told AFP. “So now the question is, does the world want to do this? Does it have enough political will...