KISHANGANJ: Bihar has been grabbing eyeballs in its sustained fight against the dreaded polio virus and is very close to vanquishing it.
Against 38 cases of P-1 type of polio virus in comparison to the country’s overall figure of 80 in 2009, the dreaded virus was reined in 2010 when it dropped to just three against 18 cases in the country.
World Health Organisation (WHO) surveillance medical officer (SMO) Samandhan P Debaje, who disclosed this at a district task force (DTF) meeting at Kishanganj on Monday, said that Uttar Pradesh stamped it out in 2010 when 34 cases of P-1 type of polio virus was detected in 2009. Bihar was now close to following the example of UP with just three P-1 type cases.
West Bengal is saddled with 6 cases of P-1 type of polio virus followed by Maharasthra (5) while Jharkhand and Jammu & Kashmir has three and one cases each respectively, according to WHO officials.
Kishanganj DM Sandeep Kumar R Puddalkatti, who chaired the DTF meeting, patted the WHO and state health officials for keeping P-1 type of polio virus at bay since 2002. He, nevertheless, warned them against any complacency in the war against polio virus after its sudden appearance as lately as December 13 in West Bengal’s Murshidabad district.
The WHO officials said Kishanganj’s success could be credited to the enormous household and child coverage by the teams engaged in the operation. SMO Debaje, however, broke a bizarre story of refusal on the part of a guardian to allow his child to take anti-polio drops under the Bahadurganj block in Kishanganj district.
The guardian disallowed his child to take anti-polio drops unless a wine shop in the vicinity of his house was wound up. He also threatened to kill his own child if officials insisted on the administration of anti-polio drops to his child.
DM Puddalkatti asked WHO and other officials to involve panchayat raj functionaries in their battle against the polio virus.
Read more: Bihar close to containing P-1 type polio virus – The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/Bihar-close-to-containing-P-1-type-polio-virus/articleshow/7319942.cms#ixzz1Bbhx07mW