India gives Tajikistan polio vaccines as strain linked to UP

It is not only the problem- plagued Commonwealth Games that has left India red- faced. Polio has also brought shame to India. Reports say the polio virus has crossed borders and reached as far as Tajikistan, causing an outbreak of the disease in the region for the first time since 2002.

Following the damage, India has had to pay in kind by providing vaccines to Tajikistan. The World Health Organisation’s ( WHO’s) European region was certified free of polio in 2002. The outbreak in Tajikistan is the first in the region since. Unfortunately for India, the analysis of the virus in Tajikistan by a team of international experts sent by the WHO has established it to be linked to the strain found in Uttar Pradesh.

“ Genetic sequencing determined that the wild polio virus Type 1 found in Tajikistan is most closely related to viral strains previously identified in Uttar Pradesh,” the WHO said. Earlier, India was blamed for introducing the virus in neighbouring Nepal. There were demands from Nepal, too, that India should bear the cost of vaccination there.

Tajikistan has reported 456 polio cases. The WHO has provided technical and field support to bring the outbreak under control. The international health body was working with the governments of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan to prevent the possible spread of the outbreak in eastern central Asia.