Bengal records this years 1st polio case

This year,the first type 1 polio case has been reported in an 18-month-old girl in Howrah district of West Bengal.

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This year,the first type 1 polio case has been reported in an 18-month-old girl in Howrah district of West Bengal. According to Union Health Ministry officials,the girl had not received any dose of the oral polio vaccine (OPV) before the onset of paralysis on January 13.

Dr Hamid Jafari,the Project Manager of WHO-National Polio Surveillance Project (NPSP),said,The continuing polio virus transmission in Bengal is a cause of concern. The recent detection of polio virus in Howrah is of particular concern as the place is adjacent to known high-risk areas and also has a large migratory population that heightens the risk of the virus spreading to other parts of the state and country. The WHO-NPSP is deploying additional personnel in the area to assist in the implementation of a vigorous immunisation response. Stopping the virus from spreading before summer months is crucial to eliminate the residual transmission of the crippling disease.

Only 18 cases of type 1 polio were reported in India in 2010 compared to 80 such cases in 2009. Health Ministry officials said that Bengal is the only state with continuing polio virus transmission while the rest of the country has made tremendous progress with a record low 42 polio cases in India in 2010 compared to 741 in 2009. In 2010,polio virus transmission continued in Bengals Murshidabad district that reported seven cases and Birbhum district from where one polio case was recorded. The virus in Howrah is the only wild polio virus case in the country this year.

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Soon after the case was reported,rapid response was initiated with the implementation of a mop-up polio immunisation round that commenced on February 13 wherein a more efficacious monovalent oral polio vaccine type 1 (mOPV1) was used.

Chief of polio eradication,UNICEF,Lieven Desomer,said,The UNICEF has stepped up efforts in the high risk areas of Bengal to spread awareness among the community about the importance of protecting their children against polio in view of the virus transmission spreading to Howrah from Murshidabad.

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