by Rod Hughes

A few people just can’t bear to throw anything away…

Some 34 years after the last case of poliomylitis in this country, some laboratories may still have saved samples of feces containing the virus and the Ministry of Health is searching them out. Only about 1% of the 558 Social Security (Caja), universities and private labs are suspect, but the ministry will comb them all, just in case.

If they do not, the World Health Organization will not certify this country polio-free, despite not having had a case since 1973. In some countries in the world, the disease still exists with all its tragedy.

Polio did not hit this country as hard as many others. In its heyday, the communicable disease left 1,000 disabled and 100 deaths, mostly babies, who were the most susceptible—hence the common name, infantile paralysis. The low toll was partly due to less population density in that era and a scarcity of centers of contagion such as public swimming pools then.

Any polio samples found will be destroyed at Inciensa, a level two biosecurity institution.