CERTIFICATION OF THE ERADICATION OF INDIGENOUS TRANSMISSION OF WILD POLIOVIRUS IN THE AMERICA

In May 1985, the Pan American Health Organization launched an initiati ve to interrupt indigenous transmission of the wild poliovirus from th e Western Hemisphere by the year 1990. The strategy to achieve this go al was based on the maintenance of high levels of immunity in the popu lation at risk and the establishment of a surveillance system to detec t polio cases and respond promptly with control measures. On 23 August 1991, a 2-year-old boy with acute flaccid paralysis due to wild polio virus was detected in Junin, Peru, the last isolation of such a virus in the entire Western Hemisphere. In 1990, an International Commission for the Certification of Eradication of Poliomyelitis Eradication (IC CPE) was established by the Pan American Health Organization to eventu ally determine if transmission was interrupted. After 3 years of follo w-up and review of surveillance data, the ICCPE declared that wild pol iovirus transmission had been interrupted in the Americas.