What Doctors Don't Tell YouIn spite of the widely circulated myth that vaccinations have wiped out polio, recent evidence suggests that a new strain of vaccine derived polio virus is on the loose (see also Viewpoint on p 5).
Vaccination may have wiped out wild polio virus but, say researchers, new cases of disease caused by a mutation of the virus in people given the oral polio vaccine is an emerging danger. A report from the World Health Organization shows that, from 1988 to 1993 in Egypt, 32 cases of vaccine derived polio virus type 2 were recorded.
These findings follow on from last year’s revelations of 19 cases of vaccine derived polio virus type 1 in the Dominican Republic and Haiti, and earlier reports of cases in China due to Sabin-2 vaccine derived disease (MMWR, 2001; 50: 41-51).
Daniel Redwood DC
Tom Ferguson MD
