I saw a story a couple of weeks back that I found very VERY disturbing. Maryn McKenna wrote about the emergence of polio cases in China.
Borders are Irrelevant: Polio Returns to China
Very bad news from China, as reported by Xinhua and confirmed by the World Health Organization: For the first time in 12 years, polio paralysis has surfaced in China. Four children, the oldest 2 years old, were diagnosed with polio in mid-July.
[public domain image courtesy of the CDC]
Polio? Are you serious?? The only time I hear anything about polio lately is when some anti-vaxxers make the absurd claims that it wasn't vaccination that drove the scourge of this illness away. They use internet mythology from their echo-chambers to convince themselves that they don't need to vaccinate their kids.
Well, it's never gone away. In part it continues because conspiracy theories and doubt-peddlers have ensured that major vaccination efforts have been unable to reach everywhere. (And the CIA did us no favors with that "vaccination" campaign in Pakistan. Morans.)
Well, this situation is getting worse. And I have more bad news.
Laurie Garrett, who some of you may know from her writing including The Coming Plague, is not new to germ surveillance and the issues around outbreaks. Just a few minutes ago she tweeted a series of tidbits about polio.
RT @Laurie_Garrett: PART 1: #Polio situation getting WAY out of control. July rpts of 3 different wild strains in Pakistan is now in danger of regional epidemic
And then
One point that the Reuters piece makes this that we are coming up on the Hajj. Think about that for a second. That's an awful lot of people in close quarters. A lot of people in airports.
We know that people are bringing measles back from Europe with a single trip.
Passengers contacted after woman with measles goes through 3 airports. Sadly, it's also possible that well-intentioned people who may not be ill can be carriers of disease that can have major consequences for vulnerable populations that haven't seen that disease in a long time.
Polio could be just a flight away. We've been lucky for so long that many young parents won't know anyone who suffered from polio.
I can't embed this video, but go have a look at this newsreel. It shows you hospitalized kids adapting by eating with their feet. But in other cases the damage is too severe, and it shows you how to put a kid into an iron lung.
Of course, there's also post-polio syndrome.
How lucky do you feel now, anti-vaxxers?
I know there's little tolerance here for anti-vaccination rhetoric. But we all know people in our communities who are putting everyone at risk. And maybe there are some people here who just thought delaying vaccinations was prudent. Perhaps it is time to reconsider that. Ask your grandparents about polio, and weigh the options.
This is another arrow for your informational quiver. Use it well.
UPDATE--Laurie has tweeted part 3:
Pt3: #Polio spreading wildtype 3 strains #China & #Pakistan http://n.pr/... and KENYA http://bit.ly/... Also Nigeria. Headsup Folks
Note this bit from the NPR blog:
British authorities are recommending that any travelers to the Xianjian Uygur region of China get a polio booster dose if they haven't had one in the past 10 years.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention hasn't has added this warning to its extensive list of areas where a booster is recommended for travelers.
UPDATE 2:
Just for the record, Laurie Garrett responded to my inquiry about whether the current vax should work with this information:
RT @Laurie_Garrett: @mem_somerville WHO says Vaxx works for #polio Pak strains but new ones more virulent. Also in #China.