Morning Briefing

"A 'final push' is needed toward eradication of polio worldwide, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control said" in an online update on the agency's polio eradication efforts, United Press International reports. "Polio incidence dropped more than 99 percent since the launch of global polio eradication efforts in 1988 and no polio cases have been reported since January 2011 in India, one of the four remaining endemic countries, a CDC report said," UPI writes. "'Nevertheless, poliovirus transmission is ongoing in the other three endemic countries -- Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan -- and travelers have carried the infection back to 39 previously polio-free countries over the last several years,' [the update] said," according to UPI.