Progress toward the global interruption of wild poliovirus type 2 transmission, 1999.
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Since 1988, when the World Health Assembly resolved to eradicate poliomyelitis globally by 2000, substantial progress has been made in attaining this goal: the Americas, the Pacific Rim, Europe, and central Asia appear to be polio-free. The remaining reservoirs where polio is endemic are confined to India and contiguous countries and to sub-Saharan Africa. In 1999, the recommended polio eradication strategies (i.e., achieving and maintaining high routine vaccination coverage with oral poliovirus vaccine [OPV]; conducting National Immunization Days [NIDs] to decrease rapid poliovirus circulation; establishing sensitive surveillance systems for polio cases and poliovirus; and carrying out mopping-up vaccination activities to eliminate poliovirus transmission) have been accelerated in most of the major reservoir countries. This report summarizes progress toward interrupting transmission of wild poliovirus type 2, which appears to be on the threshold of extinction. (+info)
In 1988, the World Health Assembly adopted a resolution to eradicate poliomyelitis globally by 2000. During the same year, the Regional Committee, Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) of the World Health Organization (WHO) resolved to eradicate polio from the region by 2000. Substantial progress in reaching this goal has been made globally and in countries of EMR. This report describes the current status of polio eradication in Afghanistan, a country in EMR with ongoing civil conflict where eradication efforts began in late 1994. (+info)
National vaccination coverage levels among children aged 19-35 months--United States, 1998.
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Sustained high vaccination coverage levels in the United States are necessary to decrease rates of vaccine-preventable diseases. Therefore, an important component of the U.S. vaccination program is the assessment of vaccination coverage. To assist in this assessment, in 1993, the Childhood Immunization Initiative (CII) was begun to increase vaccination coverage levels among children during the first 2 years of life to > or =90% by 1996 for universally recommended childhood vaccinations and to monitor trends in vaccination coverage. Vaccination objectives also were included in the national health objectives for 2000 initiative. Except for hepatitis B vaccine, the 90% coverage goals were achieved and maintained through implementation of CII by public- and private-sector organizations and health-care providers at the national, state, and local levels. (+info)
Design and interpretation of vaccine field studies.
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There are many different effects to consider when evaluating vaccines in the field. In this review, we have covered some of the various measures and issues related to study design and interpretation of the different measures. We emphasize that in designing and understanding vaccine studies, it is necessary to be specific about what the effect of interest is and about the assumptions underlying the interpretation of the results. Halloran et al. (81) present design, analysis, and interpretation of vaccine studies in more detail. (+info)
Opposite patterns of synchrony in sympatric disease metapopulations.
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Measles epidemics in UK cities, which were regular and highly synchronous before vaccination, are known to have become irregular and spatially uncorrelated in the vaccine era. Whooping cough shows the reverse pattern, namely a shift from spatial incoherence and irregularity before vaccination to regular, synchronous epidemics afterward. Models show that these patterns can arise from disease-specific responses to dynamical noise. This analysis has implications for vaccination strategies and illustrates the power of comparative dynamical studies of sympatric metapopulations. (+info)
Myanmar borders polio-free countries (China, Laos, and Thailand) and countries with widespread poliovirus transmission (India and Bangladesh). Myanmar began to intensify its efforts toward polio eradication in 1996, when National Immunization Days (NIDs) were initiated. That year, wild polioviruses (one type 1 virus and two type 3 viruses) were isolated from Myanmar children with acute poliomyelitis seeking care in Yunnan Province, China. The importation of poliovirus from Myanmar into China stimulated the establishment of surveillance for acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) in 1996 and discussions between Myanmar and China on cross-border management of poliomyelitis eradication. This report summarizes polio eradication efforts in Myanmar, which focus primarily on supplemental vaccination activities and AFP surveillance. (+info)
Outbreak of poliomyelitis--Iraq, 1999.
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Since May 1999, 86 cases of acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) have been reported in Iraq. Sixteen cases with onset during May-July have been confirmed as paralytic poliomyelitis by isolation of wild poliovirus type 1; the remaining cases are either negative, pending virus isolation (n=10), or positive for type 1 poliovirus with intratypic differentiation pending (n=nine). The first confirmed case occurred in a person residing in Ninevah governorate in the northern part of the country; subsequently, confirmed cases were reported from nine of the 18 governorates in Iraq, suggesting widespread transmission of poliovirus. Before this outbreak, the last confirmed cases of wild polioviruses occurred in Iraq during April-May 1997. (+info)
In 1988, the Regional Committee for the Eastern Mediterranean Region* (EMR) of the World Health Organization (WHO) adopted a resolution to eliminate poliomyelitis from the region by 2000. This report summarizes progress toward this goal in EMR countries through October 1999; all EMR countries, including war-torn and other underdeveloped areas of the region, are conducting essential polio eradication strategies, and eradication activities to rapidly stop poliovirus transmission are under way in countries where polio is endemic. (+info)