Polio cases rise to 50 this year in Bihar

Two fresh cases of poliomyelitis were reported in Bihar last week, reports Binod Dubey.

Despite umpteen rounds of the pulse polio immunisation programme in the State, two fresh cases of poliomyelitis were reported in Bihar last week. With this, the total number of children afflicted with the debilitating disease in the State rose to 50 this year. The figure in 2005 was 30.

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The two new cases were detected in East Champaran and Sitamarhi. What has worried the doctors is that both the kids had been administered polio drops more than four times. Other children, who were afflicted with the disease this year, had also been immunised against the virus.

When contacted, State immunisation officer Dr Gopal Krishna confirmed the development and said that medical officers of the districts concerned were trying to find out the causes that led to the new cases. "May be, the immunity level of the children was low," he added.

Eight rounds of the PPI programme had been carried out in the current year. With 50 cases of poliomyelitis, Bihar ranks next to Uttar Pradesh, where 501 patients were detected this year alone.

The other cases were reported from Haryana (16), Uttaranchal (13), Punjab (7), Maharashtra (5), Gujarat (3), Madhya Pradesh (3), Assam (2) and one each reported from Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, West Bengal and Jharkhand.

E-mail Binod Dubey: b_dubeyin@yahoo.com