The Demise and Rebirth of Polio—A Modern Phoenix?

In 1991, one of us wrote in a commentary that "The eradication of polio by the year 2000 would be a magnificent gift from the 20th century to future generations of children" [1]. That remains no less true today. However, although the burden ofpolio has been dramatically lowered by the intense effort to enact its ultimate demise, the goal of eradication has not yet been achieved. The polio-eradication effort is led by a dedicated team at the World Health Organization that has repeatedly examined the reasons for the delay in achieving the eradication goal and modified its operational strategies-although the primary tool remains repeated mass immunization with live Sabin strain oral