
Global eradication of wild poliovirus type 2 declared - panic
http://www.polioeradication.org/mediaroom/newsstories/Global-eradication-of-wild-poliovirus-type-2-declared/tabid/526/news/1289/Default.aspx
======
tomkinstinch
My med student girlfriend points out that while this is a huge victory for
public health, only polio virus type 2 is being declared eliminated. Types 1
and 3 are still endemic in pockets of the world, and are next to eliminate.
Each type has a different capsid protein.

It's pretty amazing that for my parents who were born in the mid-20th century,
polio was still a concern. When they were growing up, FDR had recently died of
complications from the disease and they knew people who were debilitated by
it. Within their lifetimes the vaccine literally changed the world, to the
point where polio is not present in developed countries. Vaccines are one of
the greatest triumphs of human ingenuity.

~~~
Kristine1975
From the article:

>WPV3 has not been detected globally since November 2012 (in Nigeria); the
only remaining endemic WPV1 strains are now restricted to Pakistan and
Afghanistan.

So things are looking good.

~~~
rmc
The activities of superpowers like the USA setting up fake vaccination centres
to collect blood samples in Afghanistan is hindering vaccination work.

~~~
bpodgursky
They weren't fake AFAIK. They just happened to be searching for Bin Laden's
family's blood while they were at it.

~~~
tripzilch
The truth is somewhere in the middle. Check out the full story about the
killing of Bin Laden, I found it fascinating and worth reading:
[http://www.lrb.co.uk/v37/n10/seymour-m-hersh/the-killing-
of-...](http://www.lrb.co.uk/v37/n10/seymour-m-hersh/the-killing-of-osama-bin-
laden)

Fake or not though, the US is definitely responsible for destroying decades of
work to get local people to trust these vaccination programs. Pretty much for
nothing but PR-points in the form of revenge.

~~~
elemenopy
Be careful about relying too heavily on Hersh's article. It makes some pretty
bold claims about a conspiracy of eyewatering proportions that have never
really been backed up. There has been a lot harshly critical responses to it.
[1]

Historically Hersh has been a successful investigate reporter but his LRB
piece hasn't really been widely accepted: [2]

> Were it not for the byline of Mr. Hersh, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist
> who first gained notice more than 45 years ago for exposing the My Lai
> massacre in Vietnam, the story would likely have been readily dismissed and
> gained little attention.

1\. [http://www.vox.com/2015/5/11/8584473/seymour-hersh-osama-
bin...](http://www.vox.com/2015/5/11/8584473/seymour-hersh-osama-bin-laden)
2\. [http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/12/us/seymour-hersh-
article-a...](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/12/us/seymour-hersh-article-
alleges-cover-up-in-bin-laden-hunt.html)

~~~
duaneb
Regardless of the US's actual involvement, the repercussions have been fairly
damning for the vaccination of polio there.

------
gburt
This is a clear win for "public health", leaving just one strain (WPV1) which
is geographically constrained.

A question for those well-versed in the biomedical and ecological sciences:
Could our attempts to eliminate viruses be a bad thing? I wonder about the
ripple effects of ecosystems on each other. We do not brag about extinction of
any other natural entity.

And, when eradication does not work, when we only hinder the growth of a
virus, does the attempt to prevent infection (or any form of "mostly cleaned
up" coverage) encourage the development of superviruses by selecting for the
strongest in the set, in the same way bacteria do? If not, why?

~~~
proactivesvcs
I've read/heard some discussion about how humans suffer detriment now that we
no longer have gut parasites living with us. Unfortuntely it's been rather
thin on the ground, I suppose it's not a very glamourous area to study.

~~~
Amorymeltzer
It's complicated, but the science is fairly well established that lack of
parasitism has lead to increased incidence of allergies in developed nations.
Small price to pay.

~~~
techdragon
Also keep in mind parasites and gut bacteria are far different to infectious
diseases like polio and measles.

We are rapidly approaching an era of medical treatments where giving a
treatment of "probiotics" to correct your newborn child's gut bacteria in
order to prevent asthma much the way we give immunisations against diseases
today. The hygiene hypothesis is getting some pretty compelling evidence and
hopefully it will lead to us learning the "right" kind of things we should be
exposing our children to in order to prevent these autoimmune conditions.

------
fencepost
For those not actually familiar with it, polio can spread into the spine and
portions of the brain, killing neurons. This can cause paralysis and severe
pain, and for some cases affect the ability to breathe. It was the original
target of the March of Dimes, which helped provide support and (once
available) vaccines.

Polio patients with breathing problems are where the "iron lung" was most
widely used; it's basically a box or tube for the whole body except the head,
with just enough seal and a timed low-level vacuum to allow the lungs to
expand then contract when the low pressure is released.

------
tclark225
Big win for public health. I'm sure the others won't be far behind.

In this same vein, go read the first sentence of the Wikipedia article on
smallpox for a jolt of pride in human progress. _" Smallpox WAS an infectious
disease..."_

~~~
Kristine1975
Look at the bottom of the article: Category "Eradicated Diseases"
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Eradicated_diseases](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Eradicated_diseases))

------
jdnier
It's interesting that they're already planning to remove the WPV2 component
from vaccines, because it can (very rarely) lead to vaccine-associated
paralytic polio. "With WPV2 transmission already having been successfully
interrupted, the only type 2 poliovirus which still, on very rare occasions,
causes paralysis is the type 2 serotype component in trivalent OPV. The
continues use of this vaccine component is therefore inconsistent with the
goal of eliminating all paralytic polio disease."

------
jf
"the only remaining endemic WPV1 strains are now restricted to Pakistan and
Afghanistan."

Not mentioned is that this is likely due to the hunt for Osama bin Laden:
[http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-cia-fake-
vacci...](http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-cia-fake-vaccination-
campaign-endangers-us-all/)

~~~
hsod
"Likely due to" seems like an overstatement. That is, the implied claim:

"WPV1 would be likely be eradicated right now if not for the hunt for Osama
Bin Laden"

does not ring true.

~~~
tripzilch
I agree. But it definitely caused a huge bump in the road.

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flurpitude
Two steps forward, one step back: [http://www.theguardian.com/global-
development/2015/oct/07/uk...](http://www.theguardian.com/global-
development/2015/oct/07/ukraine-polio-vaccine-un-world-health-organisation-
major-outbreak)

------
martincmartin
Relevant XKCD:

[https://xkcd.com/1520/](https://xkcd.com/1520/)

~~~
dang
We detached this comment from
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10346287](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10346287)
and marked it off-topic.

~~~
martincmartin
Aww.

------
handedness
> superpowers like the USA

Just how many superpowers are there?

~~~
drdeca
Wikipedia seems to say that there is not a single idea of what countries are
superpowers.

Some say that the US is currently (and since the end of the cold war) the
world's only superpower. Some would say that the term "superpower" is not
applicable any more.

Wikipedia also gives a list of "potential superpowers", being "the countries
(or political entities) most cited as having the potential of achieving
superpower status in the 21st century" : " China India European Union Russia
Brazil"

This might answer the question.

~~~
handedness
I appreciate the serious response. You might be the only person here who
didn't downvote me to oblivion...

The whole nature of defining a superpower (and the taxonomy that follows) is a
difficult one, a point lost on most people here.

Thanks again.

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relativisticjet
Hmmm, so we deliberately rendered a species of organism extinct?

Sounds like it could be a slippery slope. I'm thinking there's a window of
moral relativism to explore here.

~~~
_greim_
> We shouldn't do A, because even though A is okay, it will likely lead to B,
> then C, then D, which is definitely bad.

I don't think this is a valid form of reasoning by itself. The onus is on you
to show that the A > B > C > D causality chain is inevitable. Simply
mentioning the phrase "slippery slope" doesn't constitute such an argument and
can be dismissed without thought.

