In the early 20th century, polio was one of the most feared diseases in industrialized countries, paralysing hundreds of thousands of children every year. Soon after the introduction of effective vaccines in the 1950s and 1960s however, polio was brought under control and practically eliminated as a public health problem in these countries.
Use this interactive timeline to trace the history of polio from 1580 B.C. to the present.
1580 – 1350 BC
An Egyptian stele portrays a priest with a withered leg, suggesting that polio has existed for thousands of years
1789
British physician Dr Michael Underwood attempts the first-known clinical description of polio called “debility of the lower extremities”
1840
In Germany, Dr Jacob von Heine conducts the first systemcatic investigation of polio and
develops the theory that the disease may be contagious.
1894
The first significant outbreak of infantile paralysis subsequently identified as polio is documented in the United States of America
1907
Swedish paediatrician Dr Ivar WIckman categorizes the different clinical types of polio
1908
Austrian physicians Karl Landsteiner and Erwin Popper hypothesize that polio may be caused by a virus
1916
A polio epidemic in New York, USA, heightens concern on both sides of the Atlantic and accelerates research into how the disease is spread
1931
Sir Macfarlane Burnet and Dame Jeam MacNamara identify several types of polio virus, known as types 1, 2, and 3
1938
The United States of America establishes the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, which later becomes the March of Dimes – a fund raising organization focusing on polio research
1948
Thomas Weller and Frederick Robbins successfully grow live polio virus in live cells. Six
years later they receive the Nobel Prize for their work.
1955
Dr Jonas Salk develops the first vaccine against polio –an injectable, inactivated (killed) polio vaccine (IPV)
1961
Dr Albert Sabin develops a “live” oral vaccine against polio (OPV), which rapidly becomes the vaccine of choice for most national immunization programmes in the world
1970 – 1980
Lameness surveys demonstrate that polio is widespread in many developing countries, leading to the introduction of routine immunization with OPV in almost all national immunization programmes
1974
The World Health Assembly passes a resolution to create the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) to bring vaccines to the world’ s children
1985
Rotary International launches PolioPlus, the first and largest internationally coordinated private-sector support of a public health intitiative, with an initial pledge of US $120 million
1988
Polio paralyses more than 1000 children worldwide everyday.
Rotary International’s actions catalyze the World Health Assembly to launch the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.
1990
The Global Polio Laboratory Network is formally established to detect the presence of wild and vaccine-derived polio viruses in countries.
1991
The last case of wild polio occurs in the WHO region of the Americas. He is a three year old boy called Luis Fermin Tenorio living in Junin, Northern Peru.
1994
The WHO region of the Americas is certified polio-free. In China, 80 million children are vaccinated
1995
More than 56 million children are vaccinated in 19 countries of the WHO European and Eastern Mediterranean Regions. In India, 87 million children are vaccinated
1996
Nelson Mandela officially launches the Kick Polio Out ofAfrica Campaign and 420 million African children vaccinated during National Immunization Days.
1997
The last case of wild polio occurs in the WHO Western Pacific Region. She is a 15 month old girl called Mum Chanty living near Phnom Penh, Cambodia
1998
In Turkey on 26 November 1998, Melik Minas, a 33 month old unvaccinated child is the last child paralysed by indigenous wild poliovirus in the European region
1999
The UN Secretary General agrees to negotiate truces for immunization in the Democratic Republic of Congo. National Immunization Days are conducted in war torn Liberia.
2000
The WHO Western Pacific Region is certified polio free. A record 550 million children –almost one-tenth of the world’ s population –receive the oral polio vaccine.
2001
575 million children are vaccinated in 94 countries, including 35 million in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and 16 million in conflict-affected countries in central Africa.
2002
The WHO European region is certified polio-free. 500 million children are vaccinated in 100 countries.
2003
In Northern Nigeria, polio immunization campaigns are suspended following unfounded rumours regarding the safety of the polio vaccine. Subsequently a new outbreak occurs.
2004
In Africa, synchronized National Immunization Days in 23countries target 80 million children –the largest coordinated polio immunization effort on the continent
2005
New monovalent oral polio vaccines (mOPV) become available to enhance the impact of supplementary immunization activities
2006
Four endemic countries remain: Afghanistan, India, Nigeria and Pakistan. Outbreaks in Yemen and Indonesia–which suffer the largest, single-country outbreaks in recent years –are successfully stopped.
2007
More than 400 million children are immunized in 27 countries. On International Peace Day, 80 000 previously inaccessible children are reached with polio vaccine in southern Afghanistan
2008
A new outbreak of polio spreads from Nigeria to West Africa. Polio eradication becomes the World Health Organization’s "top operational priority"
2009
Outbreaks in Central African Republic, Guinea, Kenya and Cote d’Ivoire are successfully stopped
2010
Large outbreaks with more than 400 cases wild poliovirus occur in both Tajikistan and Congo. Transmission is stopped by the end of the year in both countries
2011
The last case of wild poliovirus is reported in India
2012
The last case of wild poliovirus type 3 is recorded in Nigeria in November
2014
The WHO Region of South-East Asia is declared polio free by the World Health Organization
2016
The globally synchronised switch from trivalent to bivalent oral poliovirus vaccine is implemented in April 2016. This is the first part of the phased withdrawal of all oral polio vaccine
It took somewhat longer for polio to be recognized as a major problem in developing countries. Lameness surveys during the 1970s revealed that the disease was also prevalent in developing countries. As a result, during the 1970s routine immunization was introduced worldwide as part of national immunization programmes, helping to control the disease in many developing countries.
Rotary International launched a global effort to immunize the world’s children against polio in 1985 followed by the establishment of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) in 1988. When the GPEI started, polio paralysed more than 1000 children worldwide every day. Since then, more than 2.5 billion children have been immunized against polio thanks to the cooperation of more than 200 countries and 20 million volunteers.
Today, wild poliovirus continues to circulate in only two countries, and global incidence of polio cases has decreased by 99%.
There has also been success in eradicating certain strains of the virus; of the three types of wild polioviruses (WPVs), the last case of type 2 was reported in 1999 and its eradication was declared in September 2015; the most recent case of type 3 dates to November 2012 and this strain was declared as globally eradicated in October 2019.
