Alarm over suspected polio case, WHO alerted, probe on

BHOPAL: Two months after polio scare in Telengana, a suspected case of polio in Bhopal, prompted the state health department to alert WHO and initiate a probe. Stool samples of the young patient have been sent for testing to WHO-authorised lab in Mumbai and test results are expected in three weeks, government officials told TOI.
The patient was admitted to a private hospital on last Thursday.The five-year-old had fever and reported weakness along with difficulty in walking, said private hospital's director and consulting paediatrician Dr Rakesh Mishra.
"The patient's reatine phosphokinase (CPK) level was around 2000, which is much above normal. Taking into consideration high CPK level, sample has been sent to test it for polio," he said.
"A case of polio would only be confirmed after receiving a report from a Mumbai laboratory, which can take about 20 days. As was seen in the case of Telangana, surveillance is crucial for keeping us polio-free," said World Health Organization (WHO)-mandated polio surveillance programme, MP state medical officer specialist Dr SM Joshi.
In June, polio virus strain was detected from a sewage sample near Secunderabad railway station in Telangana. South-East Asia Region has been certified polio-free by Regional Polio Certification Commission in March 2014. The last case due to wild polio virus in India was detected on January 13, 2011.
"Acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) surveillance, which is the gold standard for detecting cases of polio, is very rare in MP," he said.
The health department has initiated move to detect any fall-out. "We are in constant touch with doctors and monitoring child's health," said district chief medical and health officer (CMHO) Dr Veena Sinha. She indicated that child showed signs of paralysis.
Dr Mishra, who is also Indian Association of Paediatrics (IAP), MP chapter, secretary said, "The patient's sample has been taken for AFP. It is free of cost. Surveillance for polio needs to be encouraged. It is the only way we can avoid recurrence of the disease." Doctors said signs of weakness and difficulty in walking were also complicated because of dehydration.