Health experts say polio will be eradicated ‘ by the end of next year’

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International health experts said in Geneva yesterday that the global battle to eradicate polio is likely to reach its target next year, although Nigeria, with 489 confirmed cases this year, remains problematic. They are recommending that vaccination programs be intensified in the remaining countries with the disease in Africa, South Asia and Indonesia. They also have high hopes for a new type of vaccine that is effective in the hot climate and dense populations of Egypt and India. “There is no reason why polio should exist anywhere in the world by the end of next year,” said Steve Cochi, an immunization expert at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and chairman of the advisory committee.