Years of research into polio and the production of a vaccine have led to an almost worldwide extinction of the poliovirus. However, the now used and stored samples of the virus in research facilities form a potential risk for the reintroduction of polio.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has set up a plan to reduce the total number of research facilities that use the poliovirus to a limited number of certified research facilities. These “essential locations” must comply with specific measures to reduce the risk of polio reintroduction to a minimum.
These research facilities can only be certified when all the risk mitigation measures are implemented correctly. This article elaborates on these measures and indicates how they have to be implemented.
Polio is well known as an infectious disease against which, in large areas of the world, every citizen is vaccinated against. The virus spreads through the faeces of infected people.
This happens under circumstances relating to poor hygiene. Of the three existing polio types, type 2 is the most infectious.
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