No Polio scare, assures govt

To Vaccinate 300,000 Children After Polio Strain Found in Sewage

14 sewage samples tested positive in one year

• Between January 2015 and May 2016, 14 sewage samples collected from different parts of the country tested positive for vaccine derived poliovirus
• All have been responded to urgently and appropriately with polio vaccination campaigns
• None of these VDPVs detected in the sewage infected any children, so far, which means the polio virus is not circulating in the community and India remains polio-free, the government said

Rejecting reports of wild polio virus-2 resurgence in India, the government  said India continued to be polio-free and the viral strain found in a sewage sample near Secunderabad railway station was one of vaccine derived poliovirus (VDPV).

“India continues to be polio-free. We eradicated wild polio virus and the last case was seen on January 13, 2011. It has been more than five years that we have not seen any wild polio virus in India. Media reports about resurgence of wild polio virus 2 are wrong. The virus detected in the sewage sample taken from Secunderabad train station is a case of vaccine derived polio virus and not the wild virus which circulates in the community. None of the children in Secunderabad vicinity were found to have the VDPV strain found in the sewage,” a Health Ministry statement said.

However, as a precautionary measure against polio, the ministry will hold a special immunisation drive covering high risk areas of Hyderabad and Rangareddy districts starting June 20 and 300,000 children will be administered inactivated polio vaccine (IPV), an injectable form.

“The last case of wild polio virus type-2 in India was reported in 1999. The detection of VPDV does not change India’s polio-free status. It only indicates the robustness of the surveillance system to detect any kind of polio virus even from the environment (sewage). Vaccine derived polioviruses are rare strains of the polioviruses that have genetically mutated from the strain contained in the oral polio vaccine (OPV),” the government said.

A rapid surveillance review of the area has revealed that the population immunity against polio type-2 is high as trivalent oral polio vaccine (tOPV) was in use in the state until April 24, 2016, and two mass vaccination campaigns were conducted in January and February this year.