Dibrugarh, Jun 12 : The Centre today directed the Assam government to carry out extensive mopping up operations in six Upper Assam districts following an advisory from the World Health Organisation after a case of polio was detected in Dibrugarh.
Besides Dibrugarh, the operations will be carried out in Tinsukia, Sivasagar, Jorhat, Lakhimpur and Dhemaji.
The instruction comes a day after reported the detection of a rare poliovirus strain in a four-and-a-half-year-old boy, Manab Dihingia, of Miripathar under Lahowal police station.
Health department sources in Dispur said extensive pulse polio immunisation would be carried out in the six districts. A three-day programme, beginning June 28, has been chalked out for the drive.
Similar drives will also be carried out in July and August. “The instructions from Delhi are clear — go for extensive immunisation. We have been asked to cover as much of the population as we can. It is quite serious as last year Dibrugarh district was at the top with around 80 per cent coverage of children in the 0-5 years category,” a senior official of the health department said.
Manab was today examined by a team of WHO experts, led by Bina Ahuja, a technical expert of paediatrics and retired professor of the Delhi-based Kalawati Saran Children’s Hospital. The observation was carried out at the paediatrics department of the Assam Medical College and Hospital here.
The WHO team, comprising Ahuja, Dr D. Mukherjee, the regional team leader from Calcutta, Dr Bhabajyoti Bora, the surveillance medical officer, and a team of 10 doctors from the AMCH, visited Miripathar village and took stock of the situation there.
“Our top priority is to ensure that the virus does not spread in the community,” one of the team members said.
This is one of the two cases of vaccine-derived polio virus (VDPV) confirmed in India recently. The other was detected in Champaran East in Bihar. The Dibrugarh case is Type 1 VDPV while the Bihar case was Type 2 VDPV. This is the first time that India has reported VDPV cases, but the two are not related.
VDPVs are very rare but well documented strains of poliovirus. “VDPVs are strains of the virus contained in the oral polio vaccines which have changed and reverted to a form that can cause paralysis in humans with the capacity for sustained circulation. These cases are very rare and occur in persons with immunodeficiency or in areas with low population immunity,” Bora said.
Besides Dibrugarh, the operations will be carried out in Tinsukia, Sivasagar, Jorhat, Lakhimpur and Dhemaji.
The instruction comes a day after reported the detection of a rare poliovirus strain in a four-and-a-half-year-old boy, Manab Dihingia, of Miripathar under Lahowal police station.
Health department sources in Dispur said extensive pulse polio immunisation would be carried out in the six districts. A three-day programme, beginning June 28, has been chalked out for the drive.
Similar drives will also be carried out in July and August. “The instructions from Delhi are clear — go for extensive immunisation. We have been asked to cover as much of the population as we can. It is quite serious as last year Dibrugarh district was at the top with around 80 per cent coverage of children in the 0-5 years category,” a senior official of the health department said.
Manab was today examined by a team of WHO experts, led by Bina Ahuja, a technical expert of paediatrics and retired professor of the Delhi-based Kalawati Saran Children’s Hospital. The observation was carried out at the paediatrics department of the Assam Medical College and Hospital here.
The WHO team, comprising Ahuja, Dr D. Mukherjee, the regional team leader from Calcutta, Dr Bhabajyoti Bora, the surveillance medical officer, and a team of 10 doctors from the AMCH, visited Miripathar village and took stock of the situation there.
“Our top priority is to ensure that the virus does not spread in the community,” one of the team members said.
This is one of the two cases of vaccine-derived polio virus (VDPV) confirmed in India recently. The other was detected in Champaran East in Bihar. The Dibrugarh case is Type 1 VDPV while the Bihar case was Type 2 VDPV. This is the first time that India has reported VDPV cases, but the two are not related.
VDPVs are very rare but well documented strains of poliovirus. “VDPVs are strains of the virus contained in the oral polio vaccines which have changed and reverted to a form that can cause paralysis in humans with the capacity for sustained circulation. These cases are very rare and occur in persons with immunodeficiency or in areas with low population immunity,” Bora said.
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