Polio again?

A 17-month-old baby girl on the southern fringes of Kolkata is showing symptoms similar to polio, although she had apparently not missed a single dose in the immunization programme. Doctors say it will be a month before the lab reports come in to confirm or rule out polio. If Sumi Naskar tests positive, it will be a huge blow to the country, just weeks after it was taken off the endemic list by the World Health Organization. As of now, it is a case of acute flaccid paralysis (AFP), an uncommon but not rare disease in children. Doctors have assured her parents that not all AFP cases lead to polio. Sumi was brought to Baruipur subdivisional hospital, 40km from Kolkata, on Monday evening. Her parents, Shanta and Sudhangshu, have been noticing for a month that she was unable to walk. The couple say they did not suspect polio because she had been administered the immunization drops regularly.