MEMBERS of the Rotary Club of Worcester turned the city purple to celebrate the eradication of a strain of polio.

On Thursday evening, a group from the club went out into the streets of Worcester and placed purple filters over lights at a series of Worcester landmarks including the Elgar statue and Worcester Bridge.

The group were celebrating the eradication of type 3 wild poliovirus, which was announced on the same day.

The use of purple is significant because people who are given the vaccine have their little fingers marked with purple. As a result, the group also wore purple wigs for the night.

Richard Rogers, president of Worcester Rotary, said: “A special thanks should go out to John Pooley, who sourced the filters and the wigs.

"There are too many people to thank individually but John in particular should be thanked, as well as all the people who have supported the rotary."

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Thursday saw the news that type 3 wild poliovirus had been eradicated, leaving just one more strain of the disease left to eradicate.

Mr Rogers added: "Our next challenge is what is called the 12/40 challenge.

"The 12/40 comes from the distance of the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, which are the only two places left in the world where polio exists. We are down to just 20 or so cases per year from thousands just 30 years or so ago.

"We are planning an event for next year to help with this, but we aren't quite sure what we will do yet.

"The Bill Gates foundation should also take a lot of praise as they have donated £2 for every £1 rotary groups have raised."

The announcement comes after recent news that Nigeria has gone three years without a case of wild poliovirus, which means that the entire African region could be certified wild poliovirus-free in 2020.

Michael K. McGovern, chair of Rotary’s International PolioPlus Committee, said: “Even as we’re addressing major challenges in Pakistan and Afghanistan, we continue to make historic progress that shows us that eradication is possible.

“It’s important that we remain optimistic and harness the momentum of this good news as we tackle the remaining challenges in the global effort to end polio.”