Context: In order to sustain polio eradication drive from the country, government has launched Pulse Polio programme for 2019.

• The programme aims to protect children from the polio disease by conducting two nationwide mass polio vaccination campaigns and two to three sub-national campaigns each year.
• More than 17 crore children of less than five years across the country will be given polio drops as part of the drive.

To provide additional protection to children Government has also introduced the injectable Inactivated Polio Vaccine into its routine immunization program.

About IPV:

• IPV is produced from wild-type poliovirus strains of each serotype that have been inactivated (killed) with formalin.
• As an injectable vaccine, it can be administered alone or in combination with other vaccines.
• Significance: IPV is an evidence-based intervention that not only ensures continued protection of children against all types of polio viruses, but also helps save vaccine — a move bound to positively impact global vaccine supply in the coming years. IPV provides serum immunity to all three types of poliovirus, resulting in protection against paralytic poliomyelitis.
• India became the first country globally to introduce fractional doses of IPV in childhood immunisation programme in eight states and Union territories in early 2016.

Facts for Prelims:

• India was declared polio-free country in the year 2014.
• India’s last reported cases of wild polio were in West Bengal and Gujarat on 13 January 2011.

About POLIO:

Polio (also called poliomyelitis) is a contagious, historically devastating disease that was virtually eliminated from the Western hemisphere in the second half of the 20th century. Although polio has been around since ancient times, its most extensive outbreak occurred in the first half of the 1900s until the polio vaccine was introduced in 1955.

It is a highly infectious viral disease, which mainly affects young children. The virus is transmitted by person-to-person spread mainly through the faecal-oral route or, less frequently, by a common vehicle (e.g. contaminated water or food) and multiplies in the intestine, from where it can invade the nervous system and can cause paralysis.

Symptoms and Cure:

• Although approximately 90% of polio infections cause no symptoms at all, affected individuals can exhibit a range of symptoms if the virus enters the blood stream. In about 1% of cases, the virus enters the central nervous system, preferentially infecting and destroying motor neurons, leading to muscle weakness and acute flaccid paralysis.
• Initial symptoms of polio include fever, fatigue, headache, vomiting, stiffness in the neck, and pain in the limbs. In a small proportion of cases, the disease causes paralysis, which is often permanent. There is no cure for polio, it can only be prevented by immunization.
• The focus of modern treatment has been on providing relief of symptoms, speeding recovery and preventing complications. Supportive measures include antibiotics to prevent infections in weakened muscles, analgesics for pain, moderate exercise and a nutritious diet. Treatment of polio often requires long-term rehabilitation, including occupational therapy, physical therapy, braces, corrective shoes and, in some cases, orthopedic surgery.