Polio resurfaces in India: Case detected in Meghalaya’s West Garo Hills village

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Source: https://hubnetwork.in/polio-resurfaces-in-india-case-detected-in-meghalayas-west-garo-hills-village/

Polio resurfaces in India: Case detected in Meghalaya’s West Garo Hills village
By Hub Network
August 14, 2024

Shillong, Aug 14: The last case of wild poliovirus in India was reported in 2011, and India was declared polio-free in 2014 by the World Health Organisation (WHO). However, 13 years later, the highly infectious virus has been detected in India again, and it makes its comeback in Meghalaya’s Garo Hills.

A chid from Tikrikilla in West Garo Hills district was confirmed to have contracted the virus on Tuesday. He was showing symptoms of Poliomyelitis and was taken to Goalpara in Assam, where doctors diagnosed him with the disease.

The child apparently comes from a Tikrikilla village where vaccination is a taboo for villagers who prefer traditional medicine practices over the modern medicines.​..

 

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Source: https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/boy...polio-in-meghalaya-centre-who-alerted-6378946

Boy, 2, Diagnosed With Suspected Polio In Meghalaya, Centre, WHO Alerted
The suspected case in Meghalaya, if confirmed, would trigger concerns, given no wild poliovirus cases have been reported in the country since 2011.
India NewsWritten by Ratnadip ChoudhuryUpdated: August 20, 2024 6:26 pm IST​

A two-year-old boy in a remote village in Meghalaya's West Garo Hills district has been diagnosed with symptoms of poliomyelitis or polio at a hospital in Assam's Goalpara, sounding an alarm over a potential return of the virus since India is officially a polio-free state since 2014. The last polio case was detected in 2011.

It is yet to be ascertained if it is a wild poliovirus or a circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus (cVDPV), sources told NDTV. The state government has alerted the Centre and the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The suspected case in Meghalaya, if confirmed, would trigger concerns, given no wild poliovirus cases have been reported in the country since 2011.​..

 

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Source: https://indianexpress.com/article/l...olio-infection-understand-what-it-is-9529156/

Meghalaya boy contracts rare vaccine-derived polio infection; understand what it is
Though India's polio-free status remains intact, the West Garo Hills area, where the case was identified, has heightened its alert level to prevent further spread.
Written by Rishika Singh
New Delhi | August 23, 2024 18:38 IST​

The recent detection of a polio case in a two-year-old child from Meghalaya has sparked concerns. While the case was determined to be vaccine-derived, meaning it originated from a weakened poliovirus used in the vaccine, health officials are urging caution.

Though India’s polio-free status remains intact, the West Garo Hills area, where the case was identified, has heightened its alert level to prevent further spread. Let’s first understand what the virus is before we go about protecting from it.

Dr Narendra Singhla, Lead Consultant – Internal Medicine at the CK Birla Hospital, Delhi, explained that vaccine-derived polio is a rare strain of the poliovirus. “It’s called ‘vaccine-derived’ because it’s caused by the weakened form of the virus found in oral polio vaccines (OPV). In rare cases, the weakened virus can mutate and spread, causing paralysis.”​...