Happier news
Oct. 26th, 2009 09:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
spiderplanetIn honor of today being the anniversary of the last case of Smallpox, I decided to look up statistics because statistics make me happy. Smallpox is a success story of vaccination, and it's of the modern era, so there is a "last person" to be infected with Smallpox, and his identity and the story of how he contracted the disease is known.
I am curious and hopeful to see if there will be another similar story in the future.
Going by decade - According to the Worldwatch Institute, in 1978 there were 47,950 cases of Polio reported in the world, in 1988, that number was 35,251, and in 1998, there were 3,226 cased of reported Polio. In 2008, according to Worldwatch.org there were 1406 cases of Polio infections reported. Not all of those cases result in paralysis or death, so the number of cases of paralysis or death caused by Polio, in the whole entire world, is now a two digit number each year.
I think I see a trend developing, and I was unaware that it was this close.
It is currently very likely that there will be a last case of Polio in my lifetime, and there is significant effort going on now to see that it's within the next few years.
That will be a good day.
I have since learned some less positive developments in the issue of Polio eradication. To summarize - Religion ruins everything it touches.
I like the optimism that's in this post and I want to keep it this way. I'll save the rant for another day.
I am curious and hopeful to see if there will be another similar story in the future.
Going by decade - According to the Worldwatch Institute, in 1978 there were 47,950 cases of Polio reported in the world, in 1988, that number was 35,251, and in 1998, there were 3,226 cased of reported Polio. In 2008, according to Worldwatch.org there were 1406 cases of Polio infections reported. Not all of those cases result in paralysis or death, so the number of cases of paralysis or death caused by Polio, in the whole entire world, is now a two digit number each year.
I think I see a trend developing, and I was unaware that it was this close.
It is currently very likely that there will be a last case of Polio in my lifetime, and there is significant effort going on now to see that it's within the next few years.
That will be a good day.
I have since learned some less positive developments in the issue of Polio eradication. To summarize - Religion ruins everything it touches.
I like the optimism that's in this post and I want to keep it this way. I'll save the rant for another day.
