Date:01/03/2005 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2005/03/01/stories/2005030109900400.htm

New Delhi

A shot in the arm for polio campaign

By Bindu Shajan Perappadan

NEW DELHI, FEB. 28. The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare seems all geared up to give this "unwelcome overstaying guest'' the final push by introducing Monovalent Oral Polio Vaccine, custom-made to hit the type-1 polio virus.

The P-1 vaccine is to be used during the Pulse Polio Immunisation rounds on April 10 and May 15 in western Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and three districts of Maharashtra. The specific P-1 vaccination is expected to provide the campaign a shot in the arm, helping the Government inch closer to the elimination of the virus.

Conventionally the country has been using the Trivalent Oral Polio Vaccine that tackles the combination of type-1, 2 and 3 viruses. And while the P-1 vaccine is not a new vaccine, according to Ministry officials, it is a more a target specific vaccination that will be used for the round before reverting to the trivalent vaccine.

Initiating the process for the procurement of P-1 vaccine, UNICEF has already brought out a global tender for the same and officials in the Ministry assure that the specific P-1 vaccine targeting the virus will not lead to an escalation of costs.

Speaking about the need for the vaccination, an official explained: "The vaccination is nothing new, it is just about getting the right combination in a place to hit a specific virus that needs to be eliminated. The decision to bring in the P-1 vaccination was made after an analysis of the trend and understanding that what the country needs now is to narrow down to hitting at the virus that is causing the maximum damage.''

According to the figures with national pulse polio co-ordinating office, the country has already managed to eliminate P-2 virus way back in 2000 when the monitoring charts showed an absence of the virus.

By 2001 the country recorded a second year free of P-2 while there were 56 cases of P-3 virus and 209 cases of P-1 virus. "In 2002, when the country saw an outbreak of the virus, we recorded 1,484 cases of P-1 virus and 113 cases of P-3, by 2003 we had 203 cases of P-1 and 22 cases of P-3, 2004 registered seven cases of P-3 virus and 128 cases of P-1 virus -- all this while P-2 was never detected in the country,'' said the official.

"The decision to bring in the P-1 virus has been taken mainly because we have seen that this is the stubborn virus which has been creating the problem causing the spread of the virus. By introducing the target specific virus we will be hitting the problem on the head and then will give a final dose of the trivalent for all the three viruses 1, 2 and 3, tracking down any stray viruses,'' explained sources in the Ministry.

Poliomyelitis is an infectious disease caused by the wild poliovirus that leads to paralysis of the arms and legs. Children below five are particularly exposed to this infection as it weakens the child's legs and arms and it becomes paralysed which is irreversible. The polio vaccine enables the child's body to produce antibodies that protect the child throughout life.