100 years poliovirus: from discovery to eradication. A meeting report.

Just over hundred years ago, Karl Landsteiner and Erwin Popper identified a virus, later termed poliovirus, as the causative agent of poliomyelitis. This groundbreaking discovery simultaneously provided the basis for the measures that today prevent the outbreaks of the terrible epidemics caused by poliovirus. In 1988, the WHO started its eradication program to eliminate the virus from the planet. The symposium celebrated the discovery of poliovirus and discussed our current state of knowledge of poliovirus biology. Prospects for the eradication program were evaluated, with particular emphasis being placed on why certain countries still have not succeeding in interrupting wild-type transmission of poliovirus. Discussion also centred on the role of inactivated poliovirus vaccines in the eradication program and the maintenance of a poliovirus-free world, whenever this goal should be achieved.