New Polio Vaccine New Hope for Polio Eradication

    

    Efforts to eradicate polio around the world have been ongoing for several decades - the result of these efforts is that now there are no polio cases reported anywhere in the world except in Pakistan and Afghanistan - the polio virus that exists in Pakistan and Afghanistan It is called a 'wild virus' or wild type virus because it has evolved naturally

    There are two different polio vaccines in use in the world - one is the one used in areas where polio is present or has been present in the recent past - this vaccine is given in the form of drops so that not only the body is infected Immunity is created, but the polio virus in the stomach cannot even make its own copies - in addition, in countries where water drainage is not well managed, the polio vaccine is administered in the form of drops - this is because It is known that the polio virus is shed in human waste and if the drainage system is not good, sewage from the drains can be added to the drinking water, through which the virus can be transmitted to other people.

    The second vaccine is given by injection and is being used in areas where polio has not been reported for decades and where there is a modern drainage system - often in developed countries the polio vaccine is given by injection. which is enough to create immunity in the body - but this virus does not create immunity in the digestive system - if the polio virus passes through the stomach of such people, it starts making copies of itself even though the virus does not make the person sick. Because his body is resistant to the polio virus - since most people in developed countries have received the polio vaccine, the chance of polio re-infesting the population in these countries is very low (though not zero). 

    The polio vaccine that is administered in the form of drops is more effective because it contains a weakened polio virus that does not harm the body, cannot make copies of itself, but is recognized by our body's immune system. Antibodies begin to be made against it, meaning the body becomes resistant to the 'wild' polio virus - but the process of weakening the polio virus is not 100% reliable - this is because mutations in the virus occur every time. Time is running out and there is always a chance that a random mutation will reactivate the weakened virus used in the vaccine—one in a million, but not zero—if the virus is reactivated. So it won't harm a person who is vaccinated because he has immunity - but now if this virus infects a person who has not been vaccinated, that person can get polio - this type of polio. It is called Vaccine Derived Polio

    So far this century, more than ten billion doses of the polio vaccine have been administered worldwide, and there have been only 760 cases worldwide in which someone contracted polio due to the vaccine - experts estimate that if the world If the polio vaccine campaign had not been carried out throughout this century, there would have been 1.3 million cases of polio by now - that is why the vaccine against polio is considered very safe, although it is not 100% safe.

   

     Scientists have been searching for decades for a safer polio vaccine that would reduce the risk of disease to less than one in billions instead of one in billions - now with the help of genetic engineering, scientists have achieved this goal - in Nature magazine In a published paper, experts claim that after weakening the polio virus, they have added several more mutations to it - if even one of these mutations is present, the virus cannot make copies of itself - any A virus may lose one or two of these mutations by chance, but it is not possible for all mutations to be lost at the same time - the virus will not make anyone sick until all of these mutations are lost. So experts claim that this new vaccine is more reliable than existing vaccines and will eliminate the chance of someone accidentally getting the virus.

    Currently, this new vaccine is in clinical trials - experts are confident that in these trials this new vaccine will prove to be safer than the currently used vaccine and soon the authorities will allow the use of this vaccine - this new vaccine The vaccine will virtually eliminate the possibility of polio spreading around the world - however, since the wild type virus is still present in Pakistan and Afghanistan, unless polio is completely eradicated from these two countries. Eradication of polio from the world is not possible