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1789
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British physician Dr Michael Underwood attempts the first-known clinical description of polio, called “debility of the lower extremities”.
1840
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In Germany, Dr Jacob von Heine conducts the first systematic investigation of polio and develops the theory that the disease may be contagious.
1894
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MILESTONE: The first significant outbreak of infantile paralysis – subsequently identified as polio – is documented in the United States of America.
1916
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A polio epidemic in New York, USA, heightens concern on both sides of the Atlantic and accelerates research into how the disease is spread.
1931
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Sir Macfarlane Burnet and Dame Jean MacNamara identify several types of poliovirus know as types 1, 2 and 3
1948
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MILESTONE: Thomas Weller and Frederick Robbins successfully grow poliovirus in live cells. Six years later they receive the Nobel Prize for their work.
1955
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MILESTONE: Dr Jonas Salk develops the first vaccine against polio – an injectable, inactivated (killed) polio vaccine (IPV).
1961
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MILESTONE: Dr Albert Sabin develops a "live" oral vaccine against polio (OPV), which rapidly becomes the vaccine of choice for most national immunization programmes in the world.
1988
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MILESTONE: The World Health Assembly passes a resolution to eradicate polio by the year 2000. The Global Polio Eradication Initiative is launched
2000
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The WHO Western Pacific Region is certified polio-free. A record of 550 million children - almost one-tenth of the worlds population - receive oral polio vaccine (OPV)
2003
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In northern Nigeria, polio immunisation campaigns are suspended following unfounded rumours regarding the safety of the vaccine. Subsequently, a new outbreak occurs.
2005
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New monovalent oral polio vaccines (mOPV) become available to enhance the impact of supplementary immunisation activities.
2008
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A new outbreak of polio spreads from Nigeria to West Africa. Becomes WHO's "top operational priority".
2013
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Nigeria, Pakistan, Afghanistan remain to be the only countries where polio is endemic
2014
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On March 27, 2014 the WHO announced the eradication of poliomyelitis in the South-East Asia Region, in which the WHO includes eleven countries: Bangladesh, Bhutan, North Korea, India, Indonesia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Timor-Leste. With the addition of this region, the proportion of world population living in polio-free regions has reached 80%. The last case of wild polio in the South-East Asia Region was reported in India on 13 January 2011.