HHS: Polio Eradicated by 2005

The U.S. government announced Thursday that the United States and its allies were on track to eradicate polio by the end of the year.

The U.S. government announced Thursday that the United States and its allies were on track to eradicate polio by the end of the year. “I believe we can eliminate polio within a matter of months, not years,” Tommy Thompson, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said Thursday. “Polio has claimed too many lives and caused too much destruction. It’s time we end this scourge forever.” Thompson made his comments as he traveled in India, one of six countries that still battle polio epidemics. He also traveled to two other countries, Pakistan and Afghanistan, this week. The HHS secretary also said the United States needed to continue to work with other national governments, the World Health Organization and UNICEF. “This truly is a global effort,” he said. Polio cases have been reduced by more than 99 percent over the past 15 years, HHS said in a statement, from about 350,000 cases in 1988 to 784 reported cases in 2003. (Source: United Press International, April 2004)