Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma.
| Photo Credit: PTI
GUWAHATI The Meghalaya government would review the situation arising out of a case of suspected polio in the State’s West Garo Hills district, Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma said.
Health officials in the hill State have been on their toes since a two-year-old child from Tikrikilla was found to have symptoms of poliomyelitis more than a week ago. The child was diagnosed with acute flaccid paralysis at a hospital in Assam’s Goalpara.
Health officials in Meghalaya said stool and other samples collected from the child were sent to a testing centre each in Kolkata and Mumbai (Indian Council of Medical Research-National Institute of Virology). The government is awaiting the test results to ascertain if it is a case of wild poliovirus or a circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus.
“We are still examining the issue. It is a very serious situation that will be reviewed soon,” Mr. Sangma told journalists in the State’s capital Shillong on the sidelines of a function where three MLAs defected to his National People’s Party from Congress.
“We will chart a proper plan of action if we find the test results confirm what many fear,” he said.
The World Health Organisation declared India polio-free in 2014 after the last case of wild poliovirus in the country was reported in 2011. If confirmed, the Meghalaya case is expected to pose a public health issue.
The symptoms of poliovirus can include fatigue, fever, headache, vomiting, diarrhoea or constipation, sore throat, neck stiffness, pain or tingling sensations in the arms and legs, severe headaches, and sensitivity to light (photophobia), among other related symptoms.
The virus typically causes acute and short-term infections, the infected individuals capable of transmitting it for less than two weeks in most cases. Humans are the sole reservoir for the virus, and there is no vector involved in its transmission.
Health officials said more than 10 billion doses of oral polio vaccine have been administered to nearly 3 billion children worldwide since 2000. They said this helped prevent more than 13 million cases of polio, leading to a reduction of the disease by more than 99%.
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