Religious Opposition to Polio Vaccination

摘要

To the Editor: In 1988, the Glob-al Polio Eradication Initiative was formed, with the aim of reducing in-fection with poliomyelitis virus. Two decades later in 2008, a total of 1,625 children contracted acute flaccid pa-ralysis caused by poliovirus infection (1). This finding represented a 150% increase over the number of cases in 2007 (1) and resulted in the reemer-gence of polio as one of the world's deadliest infections. As of 2009, polio remains endemic to 4 countries (India, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Afghanistan); in 2008, cases were also detected in 14 other countries.