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Polio
Poliomyelitis is a highly contagious enterovirus that affects the nervous system, resulting in muscular paralysis, which may lead to permanent disability and sometimes death. Polio has historically been found throughout the world. An Egyptian stele dating from 1403–1365 BCE, which depicts a man with characteristic leg paralysis, suggests polio’s presence in ancient Egypt. Twenty-four years after implementation of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative in 1988, the number of confirmed cases of wild poliovirus—223 cases by December 2012—had greatly reduced. In the United States, where the polio vaccines that have enabled this significant decline were developed, polio vaccine was widely accepted by parents when it was first introduced in 1955 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC] 2012, 2013). However, in the three countries where endemic ...
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