Highly infectious polio strain re-appears in UP

LUCKNOW: The oral polio vaccination drive has been advanced by the Uttar Pradesh government after a girl in the state's Badaun district was infected with a highly infectious polio strain, a senior official said on Thursday.

"After a gap of nearly eight months, the P1 polio virus has resurfaced in UP. After the detection of the highly virulent P1 virus, we have decided to advance the vaccination drive," regional team leader of the World Health Organisation's National Polio Surveillance Project, S.K. Parthyarch said.

He said the vaccination drive that was slated for July 6 will now take place June 29.

Health department officials suspect that the P1 polio virus strain, which is more infectious than the P3 strain, arrived from Bihar. A 12-year-old girl in Badaun district was infected by it.