Thursday 16 June 2016

No Polio Panic please: IMA

No Polio Panic please: IMA

Dr K K Aggarwal Clarifying a report in Times of India published from Hyderabad mentioning that Telangana Government has sounded a "global emergency" after an active strain of wild polio virus was found in a water sample collected from a drain, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) in a communication to all its 2.5 lakh doctors, has asked not to panic as no wild polio virus has been detected. India is still polio-free for the last 5 years. This detected strain is a Vaccine-derived (VDPV) Polio Virus (VDPV) and not a wild Polio Virus stain. VDPV strain of P2 has been seen in the past also in sewage water, as P2 oral vaccine was given to children till recently. The current VDPV strain has been noticed in sewage water and not in a child. The risk of VDPV transmission to children is negligible. The Govt. of India has started a prevention initiative, only as a precautionary measure, through an injectable IPV Campaign immunizing 3 lakh children aged from 6 weeks to 3 years to further boost up their immunity. IMA has appealed to all doctors to clarify the same to the children and parents. As per the current polio policy since 25th April, 2016, tOPV (trivalent vaccine) has been withdrawn from the market and has been switched to bOPV (bivalent vaccine). India was declared tOPV free on 9th May. tOPV contains 3 types of polio serotypes: Type 1, type 2 and type 3. The bivalent vaccine does not contain the type 2 virus.

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