Listen to Story A case of polio has been confirmed in a two-year-old child from West Garo Hills district in Meghalaya. The development has raised concern has India was declared polio-free by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 2014 after the last case was reported in 2011. The health ministry said that this is not a case of wild polio, however, but a case of vaccine-derived polio , in which an infection presents in people with low immunity.
The WHO has been alerted about the case and an investigation is underway. The WHO doctors arrived in Tikrikilla to collect the samples. WHAT IS VACCINE-DERIVED POLIO? Poliomyelitis, or polio, is a highly infectious disease caused by the poliomyelitis virus.
It is usually transmitted through the faecal-oral route, typically by ingesting contaminated water or food. It is a highly contagious virus that can lead to paralysis. The symptoms of poliovirus can include fatigue, fever, headache, vomiting, diarrhoea or constipation, sore throat, neck stiffness, pain or tingling sensations in the arms and legs, severe headaches, and sensitivity to light, also known as photophobia.
There are three types of poliovirus: wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1), wild poliovirus type 2 (WPV2) and wild poliovirus type 3 (WPV3). Symptomatically, all these strains are identical. The cases of polio that have been seen historically have generally been of wild poliovirus.
In 1988, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative was launched for equitable vaccine administration..