Stopping any polio outbreak starts with vaccine procurement, transport by airplanes and trucks, distribution involving complex logistics, and eventually the oral administration of the vaccine by drops in the mouths of every eligible child.

However, there is another, lesser known but equally important process that must also take place to halt transmission of the poliovirus. It begins with a humble stool sample – a thumb-sized smudge of poop – taken from a child with acute flaccid paralysis (AFP), then delivered to the nearest laboratory that can test the sample specifically for poliovirus.