Despite the long-running campaign for a ‘polio-free India’, the crippling disease shows few signs of releasing its hold over the country. With several recent cases of the wild poliovirus type 1 being reported from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and even the national capital, the glitches in the Centre’s goal are becoming all too obvious. As recently as August, two cases of polio were reported from Uttar Pradesh. And though the Indian Expert Advisory Group for Polio Eradication has been optimistic that the end of wild poliovirus transmission in India is in sight, it also issued a warning about an outbreak of both poliovirus type 1 and type 3 in the high season of 2008.

A chequered past

Ancient Egyptian art depicts otherwise healthy people with withered limbs, and children walking with canes. It is also believed that the Roman Emperor Claudius was afflicted with the disease. Another famous sufferer was Sir Walter Scott, believed to be the earliest recorded case of the disease in the British isles. Several centuries later, the United States of America was struck by a polio epidemic in 1952. Of the nearly 58,000 cases reported that year, 3,145 died and 21,269 were left with mild to disabling paralysis.

In India, which has a relatively high incidence of the disease, the polio eradication programme launched in 1995 was expected to have perfect results by 2000. But although a remarkable decline in the incidence of polio was achieved, cases are still being reported, a majority from the states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

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