9.1.10

Polio & India


A new weapon will now lead the country’s fight against polio. On Sunday, the government will launch a first-of-its-kind bivalent oral polio vaccine (BOPV), a single drop to protect against two deadly strains of polio presently existing in the country—P1 and P3. The vaccine currently being used in the country is a monovalent one. It protects against a single strain causing the crippling disease. MOPV1 protects against the P1 strain of polio virus that causes large outbreaks and paralyses one out of every 200 children infected. MOPV3, on the other hand, protects against the P3 strain which causes paralysis in one out of every 1,000 infections. That is the reason why in areas where the vaccine against P1 strain is used, P3 cases rocket and vice-versa. BOPV will be launched first in Bihar on Sunday followed by Uttar Pradesh, two of the worst affected states with polio. India spends Rs 1,200 crore on polio control every year. But the health ministry has failed to eradicate the disease. In 2009, India reported over 700 fresh cases of polio. Out of these, 641 were P3 infections and 79 were caused by the P1 virus. Of these, UP accounted for 571 cases, followed by Bihar 114

No comments: