FINALLY:Nigeria has been removed from the list of polio-endemic countries

Finally, the giant of Africa,Nigeria has been removed from the list of polio endemic countries.

According to world health organization,it usually takes three years without cases before a country can be declared as polio free and Nigeria has gone more than a year without a case of a wild naturally occurring polio.this is an important milestone  for Nigeria.this also means that  there are two endemic countries  which include Pakistan and Afghanistan where transmission of the paralyzing virus has never been interrupted.

Let me enlighten you more about this virus called polio

 polio starts with it being a disease that is caused by a virus. This virus can be spread from person to person. It usually enters through the mouth and then spreads in the intestine. Excrement then transfer the disease. This is a problem in areas with poor hygiene practices. When it reaches another person it will then invade the brain and spinal cord which can result in paralysis. If left untreated, it can be deadly. This disease only affects humans.

The first polio recorded case of polio was in 1773. Sir Walter Scott was said to be struck with a teething fever which took the use of his right leg. The first epidemics began to appear in Europe and the United States around the 1900's. In 1841 there was an outbreak in Louisiana and the next one did not take place until 1893 in Boston. In Vermont the following year there were 18 deaths and a total of 132 people affected by the disease. By the year 1907 there were about 2,500 cases reported and that number continued to grow over the course of the next 30 years.

Almost all people, around 95 percent, affected with polio have no symptoms. The rest of the infected population will have mild symptoms. Some symptoms can include things like fever, tiredness, nausea, headache, and stiffness in the neck and back, pain in the limbs, and other flu-like symptoms. The eventual result, which happens in about one percent of cases, is permanent paralysis. Around five to ten percent of those paralyzed will die after the polio strikes the respiratory muscles.

As of 2013, the most effect way to treat polio is by preventing it. The first attempt at a polio vaccine was in 1935. It resulted in allergic reaction to the medicine and no immunities to the disease. In the late 1940's and early 1950's a research group from Boston Children's Hospital tried again. They were able to cultivate the virus in human tissue. Because of this, they ultimately developed the polio vaccine. They were recognized with a Noble Peace Prize in 1954. By 1957 the mass population in the United States had been vaccinated. As a result, the last know outbreak was in 1979 in several Amish communities in the Midwest.

In the late 1940s and early 1950's, polio invaded over 35,000 people each year in the United States. By 1979, because of vaccinations, the country became polio free. However, the disease continues to affect others across the globe. In 1988 there were am estimated 350,000 cases of polio across the world. In 2012 the number dropped to around 220. There are still three countries that have never been rid of the polio virus. The people of Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Pakistan still have fears of being infected.

Over the years polio effected people in large numbers. Over time, pediatricians and other physicians discovered the best way to prevent the spread of this virus is with vaccinations. Most children are vaccinated within the first year of their lives. With no reported cases in the country since the 1970's, this vaccine may eventually become obsolete.