WEB FOCUS
End of polio - the final assault
In this focus
Welcome to this Web Focus celebrating the 50th anniversary of the first effective vaccine against polio, in which we provide a selection of news, commentary, reviews and research papers. Polio once crippled and killed thousands of children and adults each year, but is now almost eradicated from the planet thanks to the pioneering work of scientists, notably Jonas Salk, Hilary Koprowski and Albert Sabin, and mass immunisation campaigns on all continents. The anniversary will be all the more dramatic if the final push to eliminate poliovirus succeeds, as hoped, in 2005.
In the words of Sir Gustav Nossal, senior consultant to WHO, "The 50th anniversary should be roundly celebrated - it's a milestone for humankind".
This web focus, and the associated poster, is available free due to support from March of Dimes and Rotary International.
Polio poster
Nature's poster celebrates 50 years of progress against polio, from the introduction of the first effective vaccine to the present day.
Top of pageWeblinks
- Global Polio Eradication Initiative
- March of Dimes
- U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention information on polio
- U.S National Network for Immunization Information
- World Health Organization
- Rotary International
- UNICEF
- Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
- news@nature.com
Archive
Top of pageNews
Polio hits Guinea and Mali
News@nature.com (4 Sep 2004) doi:10.1038/news040823-11
Polio defence plan back on track
News@nature.com (17 May 2004) doi:10.1038/news040517-1
Nigerian states disrupt campaign to eradicate polio
Declan Butler
Nature 428, 109 (11 Mar 2004) doi:10.1038/428109b
Polio eradication plan agreed
News@nature.com (12 Jan 2004) doi:10.1038/news040112-13
Polio vaccine may spawn disease
News@nature.com (10 Nov 2003) doi:10.1038/news031110-20
Polio focus shifts to Nigeria
News@nature.com (20 Oct 2003) doi:10.1038/news031020-10
Polio eradication scheme suffers summer setback
Bruce Diamond
Nature Medicine 9, 1231 (1 Oct 2003) doi:10.1038/nm1003-1231a
WHO prepares for final push to rid the world of polio
Declan Butler
Nature Medicine 424, 604 (7 Aug 2003) doi:10.1038/424604b
In Brief
Declan Butler
Nature Biotechnology 20, 887 (1 Sep 2002) doi:10.1038/nbt0902-887
In Brief
Declan Butler
Nature Biotechnology 20, 887 (1 Sep 2002) doi:10.1038/nbt0902-887
Europe declared polio free
News@nature.com (17 Jun 2002) doi:10.1038/news020617-12
Polio vaccine bites back
News@nature.com (11 Mar 2002) doi:10.1038/news020311-10
Plans to eradicate polio hit by virus outbreak in Bulgaria
Declan Butler
Nature Biotechnology 411, 405 (24 May 2001) doi:10.1038/35078219
Polio's Last Stand
Tom Clarke
Nature Biotechnology 409, 278 - 280 (18 Jan 2001) doi:10.1038/35053235
Top of page
Research
Structure of a repair enzyme interrogating undamaged DNA elucidates recognition of damaged DNA
Banerjee A., Yang W., Karplus M. & Verdine G. L.
Nature 434, 612-618 (31 March 2005) doi:10.1038/nature03458
Highlights: Polio vaccine cleared
Nature (22 April 2004)
Origin of AIDS: Contaminated polio vaccine theory refuted
Banerjee A., Yang W., Karplus M. & Verdine G. L.
Nature 428, 820 (22 Apr 2004) doi:10.1038/428820a
Feature of the week: Polio researcher innocent of HIV pandemic
Nature (26 Apr 2001)
Short interfering RNA confers intracellular antiviral immunity in human cells
Gitlin, L., Karelsky, S. & Andino, R.
Nature 418, 430 - 434 (26 June 2002) doi:10.1038/nature00873
5' cloverleaf in poliovirus RNA is a cis-acting replication element required for negative-strand synthesis
Barton, D. J., O'Donnell, B. J. & Flanegan, J. B.
The EMBO Journal 20, 1439 - 1448 (15 Mar 2001) doi:10.1093/emboj/20.6.1439
An engineered poliovirus chimaera elicits broadly reactive HIV-1 neutralizing antibodies
Almond, J. W. et al.
Nature 339, 385 - 388 (1 Jun 1989) doi:10.1038/339385a0
Antigenic hybrids of poliovirus
Hogle, J. M.
Nature 332, 13 - 14 (3 Mar 1988) doi:10.1038/339385a0
Antigen chimaeras of poliovirus as potential new vaccines
Almond, J. W. et al.
Nature 332, 81 - 82 (3 Mar 1988) doi:10.1038/332081a0
Poliovirus antigenic sites and vaccines
Hogle, J. M.
Nature 308, 19 (1 Mar 1984) doi:10.1038/308019a0
Virology: Neutralizing site of poliovirus
Brown, F.
Nature 304, 395 - 396 (4 Aug 1983) doi:10.1038/304395a0
Structure of poliomyelitis virus
Finch, J. T. & Klug, A.
Nature 183, 1709-14 (20 Jun 1959)
Top of pageReviews and Commentaries
Polio vaccines, Simian Virus 40, and human cancer: the epidemiologic evidence for a causal association
Dang-Tan, T., Mahmud, S. M., Puntoni R. & Franco, E. L.
Oncogene 23, 6535 - 6540 (23 Aug 2004) doi:10.1038/sj.onc.1207877
Polio eradication, cessation of vaccination and re-emergence of disease
Minor, P. D.
Nature Reviews Microbiology 2, 473 - 482 (1 Jun 2004) doi:10.1038/nrmicro906
Microarray analysis: The evolving story of oral polio vaccines
Breuer, J.
Heredity 92, 3 - 4 (1 Jan 2004) doi:10.1038/sj.hdy.6800373
Ethical issues for vaccines and immunization
Ulmer, J. B. & Liu, M. A.
Nature Reviews Immunology 2, 291 - 296 (1 Apr 2002) doi:10.1038/nri780
Eradication of Poliomyelitis
Nomoto. A., & Arita, I.
Nature Immunology 3, 205 - 208 (1 Mar 2002) doi:10.1038/ni0302-205
Vaccine safety-vaccine benefits: science and the public's perception
Wilson, C. B. & Marcuse, E. K.
Nature Reviews Immunology 1, 160 - 165 (1 Nov 2001) doi:10.1038/35100585
Top of pageBook reviews
Vaccine visions and their global impact
Bloom, B. R. & Widdus, R.
Nature Medicine 4, 480 - 484 (1 May 1998) doi:10.1038/nm0598supp-480
Viruses, Plagues, and History
Smith, G. L.
Nature Medicine 4, 1327 - 1328 (1 Nov 1998) doi:10.1038/3325
Microbe Hunters-then and now
Notkins, A. L.
Nature Medicine 3, 241 (1 Feb 1997) doi:10.1038/nm0297-241a
Top of page
Obituaries
Jonas Salk (1914-95)
Dulbecco, R.
Nature 376, 216 (20 Jul 1995) doi:10.1038/376216a0
Albert B. Sabin (1906-1993)
Koprowski, H.
Nature 362, 499 (8 Apr 1993) doi:10.1038/362499a0
John F. Enders (1897-1985)
Rosen, F. S.
Nature 317, 575 (17 Oct 1985) doi:10.1038/317575a0
Sir Frank MacFarlane Burnet (1899-1985)
Nossal, G. J. V.
Nature 317, 108 (12 Sep 1985) doi:10.1038/317108b0