An international team of scientists is in the process of developing an artificial vaccine which can help eliminate poliomyelitis (polio) completely.
The disease is very close to being eradicated, with only a few hundred cases being reported each year mainly from Pakistan, India and African countries.
It is noted that the new batch of synthesized vaccines will overcome the flaws in the existing vaccines. It will be an artificially engineered virus particle that will genetically disable the virus from transmitting its infection.
The World Health Organization and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation are providing a $674,000 (£438,000) grant for its research and development.
The project was announced at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in San Jose, California.
Researchers in the US and the UK are said to participate in its development.
Pakistan is one of three countries where polio is still categorized as an endemic viral infection and where door to door vaccination campaigns carried out by health workers have failed due to deadly attacks by religious extremists.
Leave a Comment