New Delhi|HL
India continues to be polio free as it has eradicated the wild polio virus and no such strain has been detected for over five years now said on WednesdayHealth ministry on the reports of polio strain found in Hyderabad.
The ministry said it was a vaccine-derived virus and does not change India’s ‘polio-free’ status. However, as a precaution, the ministry will hold a special immunization drive in the high-risk areas of Telangana.
Vaccine-derived polio viruses are rare strains that have genetically mutated from strains in the Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV). The OPV contains live viruses excreted by babies given the vaccine and these get into the sewage. These excreted particles can at times regain neuro-virulence (capacity of a micro-organism to cause disease of nervous system) and can cause paralysis if consumed by humans.
