Poliomyelitis is a deadly disease which may affect the central nervous system leading to irreversible flaccid paralysis of the legs. Since it strikes children at a very young age, affected children are paralyzed for their entire life.

Google’s philanthropic arm - Google.org is about to release a movie titled “The Final Inch” to document the historic effort to eradicate this disease from the planet. Once we succeed this will be second disease after small pox to be found only in history books (and/or some covert lab, somewhere in the world).

The Final Inch is a 38-minute film about the historic global effort to eradicate polio. Here, the story told is as much about the messengers as the message. You’ll meet Munzareen Fatima, one of the thousands of community “foot soldiers” across India working to sway reluctant families to vaccinate their children, and Dr. Ashfaq Bhat, who travels into the backwaters of India’s Ganges Basin by boat and foot to detect emerging cases of polio. Martha Mason and Mikail Davenport bring us into their lives and describe the paralyzing challenges of childhood polio, reminding us how endemic polio once was in the United States.

Filmed in high-definition (HD) in cinematic style — wide open shots to give a strong sense of place — The Final Inch captures their stories, and we hope it is both a tribute and an inspiration of hope. With a final push, this is a disease that can, and should, be eradicated finally.

Via Google.org

The movie airs on HBO in 2009. Check out the film trailer:

Acquired Immuno-deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is potentially fatal disease caused by HIV virus. AIDS renders our body defenseless against any and every infection in the world by killing the immune system.

The currently available treatment - highly active anti-retroviral treatment (HAART) is very effective in giving people a few more decades to live. However, HAART has 2 major problems:

1. It is not a cure and the medications have to be taken lifelong
2. The side effects of treatment at times may be as bad as cancer chemotherapy

Therefore, it is of imperative importance that we find a cure for this deadly disease which is safer (ideally without side effects) and does not need to be taken over a protracted period of time.

Mortality data of HIV/AIDS in the world and US:

Video: BLOODLINE: AIDS and Family is a short documentary movie by Kristen Ashburn and takes an intimate look at the harsh reality of the AIDS pandemic in Africa (available for online viewing on Mediastorm Project website).

Video: HIV 101 - This is a 10 minute video explaining HIV and AIDS (YouTube Link)

More proof that we need extended studies before blanket recommendations are made for targeting the entire population rather than “high risk” (in this case most likely to benefit) group.

A new study suggests that giving Merck & Co.’s cervical-cancer vaccine Gardasil to women through their mid-20s may not be worth the price, despite U.S. recommendations that this age group receive the costly shot.

The study, published online Wednesday by The New England Journal of Medicine, comes as Merck already is having difficulty persuading college-age and older women to get the vaccine, which was introduced in 2006 and costs about $360 for a three-dose regimen. This has contributed to a slowdown in Gardasil sales, casting a cloud on Merck’s financial outlook.

Study Questions Cost-Effectiveness Of Gardasil Cervical-Cancer Vaccine - WSJ.com