Loading...
The inability to eradicate polio from India — specifically, from Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Bihar — has stymied the WHO’s goal to eliminate polio from the planet. To investigate the reasons why polio persists, a multinational group analyzed data on the 96,421 cases of acute flaccid paralysis reported in India from 1997 through 2005.
Overall, persistent polio transmission correlated strongly with high population density, high prevalence of diarrhea and poor sanitation, and low routine coverage with three doses of trivalent oral polio vaccine (tOPV) in children. However, on average UP/Bihar children received 15 doses of tOPV versus 10 in other parts of India. The estimated protective efficacy of tOPV against type 1 poliovirus was just 9% per dose …