Scientists from the US and UK hope to create a wholly artificial safe vaccine to combat polio by copying the viral genome. The scientists hope by artificially replicating the virus, in effect removing its genetic machinery, they can avoid using a weakened version of the polio virus in the oral polio vaccine used currently.
Researcher Dave Stuart said, "The idea of the synthetic vaccine is that it contains no genome as it's virus free and so it's made, in a way, like a super-chemical, a complicated chemical, that assembles itself to look like the virus but has no way of ever replicating. Early results with polio vaccine are very promising, with synthetic particles being produced and evidence of successful stabilization."
Poliomyelitis
Polio is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. It results in paralysis and generally affects people of all age groups, children being more susceptible
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In rare cases the oral medication provokes a reaction in the patient's gut which allows a reactivated virus to pass out of the body and spread to other unvaccinated individuals.
Source: Medindia
Campaign Involving Muslim Clerics Has Increased Uptake of Polio Vaccination
In northern Nigeria, a coalition campaign involving imams, Islamic school teachers, traditional rulers, doctors, journalists, and polio survivors is gradually turning the tide against polio vaccine rejection.
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 Polio Drive in Pakistan to be Extended Despite ThreatsThe success of an anti-polio drive that had been threatened by a vaccinator boycott was hailed by health officials, and they claim that the programme would be extended | Advertisement
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The Desperate Struggle of Pakistan's Polio Martyrs
Nadia Khan treasures two photos of her sister, one showing her smiling, the other blank-faced in death after she was gunned down by militants, a martyr in Pakistan's desperate fight against polio.
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