15 June 2016: Telangana Government decided to conduct the mass campaign against polio virus that was found in the Sewerage water on Tuesday 14 June.
According to the reports, the polio virus was found after the lab test has been conducted on the samples of sewerage water that have been collected from Amberpet in Telangana, said Rajeshwar Tiwari, a principal Secretary of Health of the state government.
It is learned that the vaccine Derived Polio Virus (VDPV) was found after the lab test conducted that has not seen in the country for more than five years.
As the strain doctors stated that, until now there has been no case reported on polio, it must have been contained as it continues to be reported from the neighboring countries and west Asia that are connected to Hyderabad.
The state government decided to conduct a mass campaign as a preventive measure against polio in Hyderabad and parts of Ranga Reddy from June 20 to 25, as stated by the Principal Secretary, health. He also said that polio virus has been also detected in the previous years in Delhi, Gujarat, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
It is learned that the samples have been taken from the Amberpet sewerage water, on May 17 from various parts of the city, and the strain has been found in these samples collected after the tests conducted the samples.
Dr. G Srinivasa Rao, Chief Programme Officer NHM of Telangana said that “P2 strain is vaccine derived. Someone vaccinated 110 months to a year back released the strain through the stool. This rare case happens when a child’s immunity is very low. So to avoid this drift cases, the P2 strain is no longer given in vaccines”, as per the reports.
Dr. Rao also added that‘we will be following WHO set standards during our programmes’. As concerned, the special campaign will be conducted and during this special campaign, the children between the ages from six months to 3 years will be given additional doses of the injectable polio vaccine (IPV). During this programme, a booth system will be set up.
The campaigns will be organized in all the places by the teams but there will not be a door to door vaccination campaign said the officials.
The parents of the children would be encouraged to ensure their children get the injectable polio vaccination dose that would be covered in the areas. Also, they will be provided with additional protection against all types of polio, said the officials.
