Need for extra dose of polio
- February 19, 2023
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN Topics
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Need for extra dose of polio
Subject : Science and technology
Section: Health
Concept :
- An additional dose of injectable polio vaccine has been introduced in West Bengal as part of the Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP) for children in India.
- As per the announcement, additional dose will be given at nine months, in addition to the existing doses in the current UIP.
- There were four oral doses and two injectable doses before the additional third dose was introduced in January 2023.
- West Bengal is considered among high risk areas for polio.
- According to a noted virologist, an additional dose of inactivated poliovirus (IPV) at nine months is expected to protect against any Vaccine Associated Paralytic Polio or Vaccine Derived Polioviruses.
What is Polio?
- Polio also called as Poliomyelitis.
- It is a viral disease that destroys the nerve cells present in the spinal cord, causing paralysis or muscle weakness to some parts of the body.
- It is a contagious disease affecting the nervous system and is caused by Picornaviridae – a poliovirus.
- The virus is transmitted by person-to-person through the following ways –
- Through the faecal-oral route.
- By contaminated water or food.
- This virus primarily grows and multiplies in the intestine, from where it can attack thenervous system and will cause polio and paralysis on an advanced level.
- There are three individual and immunologically distinct wild poliovirus strains:
- Wild Poliovirus type 1 (WPV1)
- Wild Poliovirus type 2 (WPV2)
- Wild Poliovirus type 3 (WPV3)
- Symptomatically, all three strains are identical, in that they cause irreversible paralysis or even death.
- However, there are genetic and virological differences, which make these three strains separate viruses which must each be eradicated individually.
- WPV2 and WPV3 have been eradicated globally but WPV1 remains in circulation in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
- WPV2 was eradicated in 1999.
- There is no cure, but it can be prevented through immunisation.
Vaccines:
- Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV):It is given orally as a birth dose for institutional deliveries, then primary three doses at 6, 10 and 14 weeks and one booster dose at 16-24 months of age.
- Injectable Polio Vaccine (IPV):It is introduced as an additional dose along with the 3rd dose of DPT (Diphtheria, Pertussis and Tetanus) under the Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP).
Polio Eradication:
- For a country to be declared polio-free, the wild transmission of all three kinds of Polioviruses has to be stopped.
- For eradication, cases of both wild and vaccine-derived polio infection have to be reduced to zero.
- Eradication of a disease refers to the complete and permanent worldwide reduction to zero new cases through deliberate efforts. If a disease has been eradicated, no further control measures are required.
- However, elimination of a disease refers to reduction to zero or a very low defined target rate of new cases in a defined geographical area. It requires continued measures to prevent re-establishment of disease transmission.
How did India achieve its polio-free status?
- Rotary International launched its polio eradication campaign, Polio Plus, in 1985, it was in 1986 that it provided a $2.6 million grant to Tamil Nadu for a pilot polio vaccination campaign.
- In 1995, the Union government announced the first National Polio Immunisation Day.
- In 2012, the World Health Organisation removed India from the list of endemic countries.
- The last case of poliovirus type 2 was recorded in India in October 1999 at Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh.
- The last case of poliovirus type 3 was on October 22, 2010, at Pakur, Jharkhand.
- The last case of poliovirus type 1 was recorded on January 13, 2011, at Howrah, West Bengal.
- To prevent the virus from coming to India, the government since March 2014, has made the Oral Polio Vaccination (OPV) mandatory for those travelling between India and polio-affected countries, such as Afghanistan, Nigeria, Pakistan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Syria and Cameroon.