Polio eradication initiative meets resistance to appeals to destroy samples

For more than two years, the global initiative to eradicate polio has been trying to convince companies and laboratories around the world to get rid of stored samples of an extinct poliovirus, with little success.

Thirty countries have indicated they plan to hold on to type 2 polioviruses, in a total of 99 facilities. That, health officials warn, could endanger years of efforts to stop the virus from crippling children.

“I think it’s more than what was anticipated,” said Dr. David Heymann, an infectious diseases expert who formerly ran the polio program at the World Health Organization and who currently