World to be free of polio by next year, says official

Friday, April 9, 2004

NEW DELHI -- The world is likely to be polio-free next year, but the war against AIDS is being lost, the U.S. health secretary said Thursday. "We're on the precipice of accomplishing it," Tommy Thompson said of eliminating polio. If the current vaccination campaign is successful, polio will become only the second know disease after smallpox to be wiped out by humankind. "We're probably down to the last 1,000 cases, probably the most difficult to eradicate," Thompson told reporters. The remaining cases are in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Egypt, Nigeria and Niger.

To continue reading
For more than 115 years, the Southeast Missourian has written the first draft of local history. We have aspired to enrich, entertain, educate and inform. Our core values have remained firm: truth, service, quality, integrity and community. Support our mission.