Good News: Polio is Almost Gone

The US averaged 35,000 annual cases of polio in the 1940’s. The disease was eradicated in the US by 1979.

Global cases were 350,000 in 1988. Concerted efforts by governments, health care professionals, philanthropists and civic organizations (Rotary) eliminated polio from 5 continents by 2020. The last African case was reported in Nigeria in 2016.

Active cases were reported in only Afghanistan and Pakistan last year.

Soon, this will be the second ever human infecting disease to be eliminated (after smallpox).

https://www.cdc.gov/polio/progress/index.htm#:~:text=The%20annual%20number%20of%20wild,certified%20as%20eradicated%20in%202019.

https://ourworldindata.org/polio

https://www.cdc.gov/polio/what-is-polio/polio-us.html

https://www.rotary.org/en/our-causes/ending-polio

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