Interrupting poliovirus transmission – New solutions to an old problem

Since the launch of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) in 1988, knowledge as to the nature of circulating polioviruses and the challenges to their interruption has increased tremendously, particularly during the period 2000–2005. By January 2006, however, the systematic application of the standard polio eradication strategies, combined with recent refinements, had reduced the number of countries with ongoing transmission of indigenous wild polioviruses to just four (Nigeria, India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan), the lowest ever in history. In addition, only 8 of the 22 areas that had been re-infected by wild poliovirus in 2003–2005 still required large-scale ‘mop-up’ activities and circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus (cVDPV) outbreaks were being readily addressed. This progress, despite new challenges late in the GPEI, was greatly facilitated by a range of solutions that included two new monovalent oral polio vaccines (mOPVs), new and robust international standards for polio outbreak response, and renewed political commitment across the remaining infected countries.