Meghalaya boy diagnosed with suspected polio; alarm raised over potential return of virus
PTC News Desk: A two-year-old boy in a village in Meghalaya's West Garo Hills district has been diagnosed with poliomyelitis or polio at a hospital in Assam's Goalpara. The development has raised concerns about the virus's potential comeback since India was declared polio-free in 2014. The last polio case was detected in 2011.
The state government has informed both the Centre and the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The suspected case in Meghalaya, if verified, would raise worries, considering no wild poliovirus cases have been reported in the country since 2011.
Poliomyelitis, or polio, is a highly infectious disease caused by the poliomyelitis virus. In addition, a team of WHO doctors has arrived in Tikrikilla to collect samples.
Meanwhile, Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma stated that the government will assess the situation around a suspected polio case in the state before issuing an official statement and detailing a course of action.
Sangma noted the seriousness of the situation and said, "We need to be very careful, the government is still determining the specifics of the case, I will review this in a couple of days...we are determining many factors and will come up with an official statement as well as a plan of action."
- PTC NEWS
