Tests conducted by the Enterovirus Research Centre lab found Nazali Sheikh afflicted with the P1 strain of the polio virus.
MUMBAI: The worst fears of the state health department came true on Monday when tests conducted by the Enterovirus Research Centre laboratory in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, found that Nazali Sheikh, a nine-year-old resident of Govandi, was afflicted with the P1 strain of the polio virus.
The girl had visited her hometown in Uttar Pradesh between April and June this year. Polio has assumed epidemic proportions in parts of Uttar Pradesh.
Alarmed by the second such case in Maharashtra this year — and the first in Mumbai since May 2004 — Health Minister Dr Vimal Mundada has ordered all municipalities in the state to carry out a vigorous immunisation drive on November 5.
Originally, a routine immunisation drive was being planned in Mumbai, Thane, Raigad, six districts of Marathwada, and Ahmednagar. The state has now placed an urgent request with the Centre for an additional 1.20 crore polio vaccine vials.
The new cases have come to light at an inopportune time.
The World Health Organisation was about to declare Maharashtra a polio-free state, Mundada said. The other case in the state was reported earlier this year from Majalgaon in Beed district where Sakina Pathan, a two-year-old, was diagnosed with the disease.
In the wake of the Govandi case, health officials in Mumbai have been directed to target ‘risky areas’ where migrants, especially from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, tend to settle. Officials will prepare a list of migrants and track the immunisation status of their children until the age of five years.
Mundada said special urban health posts will be set up in the designated areas with adequate staff. She has directed the rural and urban development departments to register adverse remarks against officials who fail to undertake the immunisation drive.
Mundada also said the government will complain to the Press Council of India against local daily Urdu Times for carrying baseless reports that administration of the vaccine could lead to brain tumour and impotence.
Eliminating misconceptions about immunisation will be critical because, as Director for Health Services Dr PP Dhoke explained, the polio virus is now being found even in those who have been immunised. There are no non-immunised bodies for the virus to strike.
Dhoke said the recovery phase for patients such as Nazali Sheikh usually lasts up to six months. Then tests determine the extent to which the patient’s motor movements have been affected. Based on the findings, the patient is advised to undergo physiotherapy.
Of the 325 cases of polio in India this year, Uttar Pradesh alone accounts for 291 cases. Bihar has reported 19; Haryana, five; Uttaranchal, three; Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, and West Bengal, one each; and Madhya Pradesh two.
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