India sees an increase in polio cases

From Indian Express:

NEW DELHI -- Though India has reported double the cases of virulent Wild Poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) this year as compared to last year — while there were only five cases of P1 virus last year till this time, as many as 18 cases have come to light this year — the India Expert Advisory Group (IEAG), an expert body to the Government of India on polio, had projected that transmission of the virulent virus could be “stopped” by mid-2009, provided its recommendations were implemented.

“If recommended activities are implemented, the IEAG expects only sporadic cases of WPV1 to be detected in the next six months and considers that WPV1 transmission in India could be interrupted by the end of the low transmission season in 2009,” the IEAG had said.

Among the various recommendations which the IEAG had made at their meeting in November last year was to give injectable polio vaccine (IPV) in the high-risk districts of Uttar Pradesh. Six months on, the recommendation is yet to be implemented.

Officials in the Union Health Ministry, however, maintain a study by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) is going on in the most endemic areas. “The ICMR is in the process of doing comparative studies of vaccines among children who have been given MOPV1, a high titre MOPV1, IPV full dose and fraction dose of IPV. The blood samples of the children have already been taken. However, the ICMR is yet to give the go-ahead,” said a senior official in the ministry.