Raj Bhopal: Yes, there is a chance, just that we can’t rely upon it, that’s all. There is a chance, that happens, but when these things happen, whether it is bacteria or viruses or whatever, they come and go. Sometimes, they become very virulent, very severe, other times, they become very mild, that has happened with rheumatic fever, for example, the bacterium that causes rheumatic fever used to be very severe and now, it’s not, we don’t see much rheumatic fever, although the bacterium is still around. Something has changed, this might happen with this, but we just can’t rely upon it. It is more likely to be like the Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1918 which is still here with us, but our immune system has got used to it and is less severe. There is only one disease which we managed to eradicate through our immunisations programmes and it took 179 years from the discovery of the vaccine to the eradication of small pox. Through human endeavour, this is the only disease that we have ever been able to remove from the earth ourselves.
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