2004-5-2
This is Robert Cohen with the VOA Special English Development
Report.
Fifty years ago, no one knew how to stop polio. Polio is a
disease of the muscles and the nervous system. Victims lose the
ability to move their arms or legs, and often the ability to
breathe.
Then a scientist named Jonas Salk developed an experimental
vaccine to prevent it. The organization March of Dimes launched a
test.
The first vaccines were given on April twenty-sixth,
nineteen-fifty-four. About four-thousand students were the first to
receive the injections. They attended Franklin Sherman Elementary
School in McLean, Virginia.
The test was called "the shot felt around the world." About
two-million children were vaccinated in one year. Those who received
the series of three injections became known as the "Polio Pioneers."
Today, a form of vaccine taken by
mouth is used to fight polio. This vaccine was developed by Albert
Sabin. Polio is almost gone from the world. The World Health
Organization wants to declare an end to polio by next year. But this
goal may be at risk.
Recently, in southern Africa, Botswana reported its first case of
polio in more than ten years. Health officials say the virus found
in a child probably came from Nigeria. One state in Nigeria is not
ready to vaccinate its children.
Islamic leaders in Kano say the vaccine is not safe. Some
opponents have said the vaccines are part of a Western plot to harm
Muslims. Kano officials have said they are waiting for supplies of
vaccine from Muslim countries in Asia.
There have been several new cases of polio in Kano since January.
Health officials believe most other new cases of polio in Nigeria
spread from Kano. And the disease has spread to other African
countries where there had been no polio for years.
Polio is still a problem also in India, Pakistan, Niger,
Afghanistan and Egypt. India's national immunization days have
reduced new cases to only eight reported so far this year. There
were one-thousand cases two years ago.
In Nigeria, Muslim leaders, government officials, doctors and
others met recently to discuss the concerns in Kano. People at the
meeting said they agreed that Islam supports vaccinations against
disease. Kano leaders urged the government to do more to fight all
diseases that kill children, not only polio.
This VOA Special English Development Report was written by Karen
Leggett and Jill Moss. This is Robert Cohen.