Polio Strain Wiped Out

ATLANTA (AP) — One of three strains of polio has apparently been wiped out – a milestone in the global effort to eradicate the paralyzing disease.

The World Health Organization said that the global network of laboratories that tracks the disease reported no new cases of Type 2 polio in 2000. The last recorded cases were in India in 1999.

The Americas were declared polio-free in 1994, and the disease has been eliminated in Europe. Still, more than 2,800 cases were confirmed last year in Southeast Asia, Africa, and the Mediterranean, where war, poverty, and other problems have hurt efforts to vaccinate children.

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