GENEVA/EVANSTON/ATLANTA/NEW YORK -- The number of countries with indigenous polio has dropped to an all-time low of four, as polio eradication efforts enter a new phase involving the use of next-generation vaccines targeted at the two surviving strains of virus.
In 2006, monovalent vaccines, aimed at individual virus strains, will be the primary platform for eradication in all remaining polio-affected areas, announced the core partners in polio eradication—the World Health Organization (WHO), Rotary International, the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention and UNICEF—enabling the eradication drive to hone in on poliovirus types 1 and 3.
This new phase was announced alongside the confirmation that indigenous poliovirus has not circulated in Egypt and Niger for over 12 months. This is the first time in three years that the number of polio-endemic countries has fallen, leaving Nigeria, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan as the only countries that have never stopped indigenous polio transmission.