Date:30/11/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/11/30/stories/2008113053280400.htm

Andhra Pradesh

Polio-type disease in Yanam

Staff Reporter

KAKINADA: The detection of yet another case of acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) in Yanam has sounded warning bells about the continued vulnerability of children in the 0-5 age group to affliction by polio virus.

The case was initially suspected to be polio but doctors at the Government General Hospital (GGH) here could not say whether the two-year-old girl P. Durga Bhavani was affected by a full blown polio virus or AFP until they received the findings of King Institute of Preventive Medicine (KIPM), Chennai, where the stool samples were sent. The girl was admitted to the hospital when her parents, Srinivas and Bhavani, observed the lack of sensation and movement in her right leg. Medical and health officials of Yanam conducted a mop-up immunisation camp on Saturday in Savitri Nagar where they lived as a preventive measure. The latest case of AFP that was reported at Yetimoga near Kakinada on August 3, 2008, turned out to be polio and forced the authorities to undertake a Statewide immunization drive.

District Immunization Officer B Murali Krishna told The Hindu that 69 AFP cases were recorded till now in 2008 and only one of them was found to be polio. AFP is the most common sign of acute poliomyelitis (polio), a condition which is reversible if treated on time.