Bill Gates predicts polio will be eradicated by end of 2017

Billionaire Bill Gates feels confident that the poliovirus will be eradicated by 2017.

There has been a significant drop in cases worldwide since 1988, according to a report by the Daily Mail.

The virus spreads through human-to-human contact and can stay in person's throat and intestines before moving to other parts of the body.

"Progress in fighting polio might be one of the world's best-kept secrets in global health," Gates said in the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's annual letter. Adding, "If things stay stable in the conflicted areas, humanity will see its last case of polio this year."

 "When polio is eradicated, the world can dedicate polio funds to improving child health, and the lessons from polio will lead to better immunization systems for other diseases," Gates wrote in the letter.

However, as optimistic as Gates is, experts warn it will spread in people for decades, the report revealed. "Gates conflates eradicating cases of polio with eradicating the poliovirus, which will live in the intestines of symptomless carriers and be passed around for decades," Dr Richard Bruno, chairperson for International Post-Polio Task Force and director of The Post-Polio Institute, told the Daily Mail.