December 8, 2000 – The recent discovery of three cases of polio in the Dominican Republic and Haiti raises important questions about stopping polio vaccines and the type of vaccines used. The identified cases are the first in the Western Hemisphere in nearly a decade and it is believed that 16 more people could also be affected in the Dominican Republic.
According to the researchers, the three children (who were not vaccinated) would have been put in contact with a mutant strain of the virus used in the Sabin vaccine (based on live attenuated virus). This vaccine, mainly used in developing countries because it is less expensive than the Salk vaccine, based on dead virus, also has the advantage of causing the “vaccination” of people who come into contact with children. vaccinated by a phenomenon known as the “horde effect”.
The problem is, if the live vaccine infects too many unvaccinated people, it can survive long enough to create a new (and dangerous) mutation in the virus. The possibility of these mutations has always concerned health authorities and it seems that this is what happened in Constanza, a small mountain village about 140 km from the capital Santo Domingo, where the first case was identified.
Polio is a very contagious disease that strikes most children under the age of five. It damages the spine and the brain, causing paralysis and sometimes death. In 1999, only 6,000 people were affected, mainly in Africa, India and some countries in Asia. The Dominican Republic cases are the first in the Western Hemisphere since a case in Peru in 1991.
With the disease virtually eliminated, the question is when and how to stop vaccinations. Some experts believe they will need to be stopped all over the world at the same time, to prevent vaccines from perpetuating the disease themselves.
HealthPassport.net
According to Associated Press, December 5, 2000
