Polio
Polio is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus that invades the nervous system and can cause permanent paralysis. While polio can strike at any age, it mainly affects children under age 5. Because there is no cure, prevention through vaccination is the only protection for children. There are two types of vaccines against polio—oral polio vaccine (OPV), and inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) delivered via injection. The world is very close to eradicating polio. Over 2.5 billion children have been vaccinated since 1988 and the number of polio cases per year is down by 99 percent. There are three types of wild polioviruses, 1, 2, and 3. Wild poliovirus type 2 has been eradicated and cases of type 3 fell 92 percent from 2009 to 2010. While there has been remarkable progress, more affordable vaccines are needed to complete the job of eradicating polio and maintain protection post eradication.
More about polio | View resources on polio
Key resources
Fractional Doses of Inactivated Poliovirus Vaccine in Oman (2010)
An article that reports on a clinical trial comparing fractional doses of inactivated poliovirus vaccine administered intradermally with full doses of vaccine given intramuscularly.
Global Post-Eradication IPV Supply and Demand Assessment: Integrated Findings (2009)
A report that summarizes the findings from a global post-eradication inactivated polio vaccine supply and demand assessment conducted from 2007 to 2008.
Featured PATH resources
Improving the Affordability of Inactivated Poliovirus Vaccines (IPV) for Use in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: An Economic Analysis of Strategies to Reduce the Cost of Routine IPV Immunization (2010)
A report that presents results from an economic model that calculates the costs of delivering IPV vaccine in India.
More About Polio (2012)
A web page from the Vaccine Resource Library that provides an overview of polio, a snapshot of the current vaccine landscape, and links to additional information about the disease.
Page last updated: May 2012.
