Smallpox is the only human disease to have been eradicated, with Polio and Guinea worm disease next on the list. But some targets have been pushed back as campaigns hit myriad challenges. News feature from anita_makri
It was not long before cracks of discord began to appear. As the pandemic coronavirus swept across continents, it alsoamong the ranks of experts tasked with fighting it. At the heart of COVID-19 battle plans was a dilemma familiar to humanity’s age-old struggle with disease-causing organisms: should we get rid of the virus completely, or should we suppress and learn to manage with it?Most scientists have by now conceded that SARS-CoV-2 is here to stay.
Cases of paralytic polio and Guinea worm disease have steadily decreased in past decades, but malaria continues to cause hundreds of thousands of deaths annually. Source: Our World in Data. Decisions about whether and how to wipe out an infectious disease can be controversial, weighed up on fine lines in terminology and risk–benefit calculations. A basic distinction between elimination and eradication often gets lost, which causes confusion.
The world set its sights on wiping out the three serotypes of poliovirus nearly 35 years ago. Thanks to this ambitious target, 18 million children have beensince the start of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative , and the number of poliomyelitis cases has plunged by 99%. But getting to zero — the so-called ‘last mile’ — is notoriously difficult, beset by setbacks.
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