The Union Health Ministry has confirmed that the polio infection case of the two-year-old child is not a case of wild polio but is vaccine-derived. In recent news, a two-year-old boy from Meghalaya was diagnosed with suspected polio virus at a hospital in Assam's Goalpara. The boy hails from West Garo Hills district of the state.
The case was later confirmed by the Union Health Ministry recently stating that the child does not have wild polio but it is vaccine-derived. Vaccine-derived polio infection can occur in humans with low immunity. After the resurfacing of this one case, both the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the central government was alerted.
The confirmation regarding the vaccine-derived cases was then made the the centre. Whatever the details of this polio case are, it has alarmed the health authorities because the last polio cases detected was in the year 2011. According to the declaration of the World Health Organisation (WHO), India was declared polio-free in 2014 after the last case.
What Is Vaccine-Derived Polio? According to the WHO, vaccine-derived polio infection is, " A well-documented strain of poliovirus mutated from the strain originally contained in OPV ." The OPV in the vaccine is supposed to contain the live but weakened from of the virus. This replicates in the intestines for a short period and then starts to develop immunity in the body by building its antibodies.
Officials in Meghalaya's West Garo Hills district are on high alert after the emergence of the latest case. "The two-year-old child from Tikrikilla was found to have symptoms of poliomyelitis more than a week ago. The child was diagnosed with acute flaccid paralysis at a hospital in Assam's Goalpara.
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