One year ago today, health officials announced the last case of polio in Nigeria. Since then, the country has remained polio-free—one step of many toward an official certification of eradication from the World Health Organization.
As of 1988, there were more than 125 countries harboring polio. If Nigeria is able to reach total eradication, only two countries—Pakistan and Afghanistan—will remain on that list.
If and when polio is entirely eradicated worldwide, it could become the second human disease that we’ve ever been able to wipe out, after smallpox. (Efforts to expunge the Guinea worm are also vying for second place.)
The news from Nigeria is a great step, and comes from a joint effort between the WHO, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the United Nations Children’s Fund, and Rotary International—which together form the Global Polio Eradication Initiative—as well as support from other organizations including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
From Popular Science Posted July 24th, 2015
http://www.popsci.com/milestone-nigeria-one-year-polio-free
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