World Polio Day is October 24. Dr. Susan Hubbell told us that polio was once one of the most feared diseases globally. A highly infectious disease with no cure, polio spread rapidly through communities and left devastation in its wake. Every year, thousands of children were killed and hundreds of thousands paralyzed. "Today thanks to global efforts and innovative tools, polio cases are down 99.9%." Rotary has been working to stop polio for over 30 years. In 1988 there were 350,000 cases in 125 countries. As of 2021 there were 5 cases due to wild polio virus type 1 in two countries: Afghanistan and Pakistan, compared to 140 in 2020. In 2023, wild poliovirus transmission is restricted to two provinces in Afghanistan and seven districts in Pakistan, while 80% of variant poliovirus cases globally are constrained to 4 subnational geographies – northern Nigeria, south central Somalia, eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, and northern Yemen. She told us that it's difficult to eradicate the disease due to a number of factors: limited access to vaccinations due to unrest, civil war, and insurgency; insufficient quality of polio eradication operations; insecurity, access problems and misinformation; compromises imposed by the coronavirus pandemic. In 2021, a new oral vaccine was released. Since then, close to 670 million doses have been administered across 31 countries and data continues to show its promise as a tool to end variant poliovirus type 2 outbreaks, the most prevalent form of the virus. She also told us that an Active Global Surveillance System has been established to detect and respond to not just polio outbreaks, but also other public health threats such as COVID, measles, yellow fever, neonatal tetanus and avian flu. Dr. Hubbell encouraged us to continue to donate to PolioPlus to help stop the disease. "Polio is not gone yet. Vaccination is still very important for all children."
Also at Monday's meeting, Tim Sielschott put on his "Fred Jones" costume and encouraged everyone to attend the October 25 social at The Met from 5:00 - 8:00. A $25 gift card will be awarded for the best costume.
And Jon Neeper was presented with his blue badge at Monday's meeting. Congratulations!