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Background Information The World Health Organization, Rotary International, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and UNICEF are all part of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative which aims to rid the population of wild poliovirus through vaccination, education, proper precautions, and containment of poliovirus in laboratories. From 2000 to 2001, efforts of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative have reduced the number of polio-endemic countries from 20 to 10. The number of new cases globally was slashed by more than 80%, from 2979 in 2000 to 537 in 2001.* This represents a greater than 99.8% reduction since 1988, when polio paralyzed more than 350,000 children in 125 countries. Once polio has been eradicated, the only sources of wild poliovirus will be in biomedical laboratories. Prevention of inadvertent transmission of polioviruses from the laboratory to a growing non-immune community is crucial. The first step toward laboratory containment is a national inventory of all biomedical laboratories. The inventory alerts laboratories to the impending eradication of polio and encourages the destruction of all unneeded wild poliovirus infectious and potential infectious materials. Laboratories that retain poliovirus materials for ongoing work will be placed on the national inventory. When wild poliovirus transmission is interrupted, laboratories on the national inventory will be notifies when to implement biosafety measures appropriate for the materials stored and procedures performed. (CDC, 2002) For more information
on this National Polio Inventory, please go to http://www.cdc.gov/od/nvpo/polio. |
