Polio is a vaccine preventable disease that could potentially be the second disease, after smallpox, to be eradicated from the world. According to WHO surveillance data, in 1998 there were a total of 5,108 confirmed polio cases, a small decrease from the 5,174 confirmed cases in 1997. Moreover, there were 1,564 reported cases of wild poliovirus and 24,688 cases of Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP). It is important to recognize that these data are underestimates of the total cases of poliovirus and AFP as a result of poor surveillance and monitoring in many countries in Africa and South East Asia. For current polio surveillance and worldwide distribution click here

Source: WHO Polio Website, http://whqsabin.who.int:8082/virus.htm