An active strain of wild polio virus  (P2 strain) was  traced in a water sample in the Telangana state of country. The Telangana government sounded a global emergency and prompt to airlift two lakh vaccines from Geneva to innoculate over lakh children in Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy district as a "preventive measure".

No case of polio has been reported in the country for more than five years. The government is launching a massive vaccination programme as a preventive measure after detecting Vaccine Derived Polio Virus (VDPV) strain in Hyderabad.

Rajeshwar Tiwari, prinicipal secretary, health, said that, "The government has decided to conduct a special campaign against polio in Hyderabad and parts of Ranga Reddy from June 20 to June 26."

This was not the first time that the strain was detected in the country. Previously, the wild polio strain was detected in Gujarat, Bihar, UP and even Delhi, Tiwari added.

Dr G Srinivasa Rao, chief programme officer, National Health Mission, Telangana, said that, "In this case, the P2 strain is vaccine derived. Someone vaccinated 10 months to a year back released the strain through stool. Such rare cases happen when a child's immunity is very low. To avoid such stray cases, that happens one in a million, the P2 strain is no longer given even in vaccines."  "We'll be following WHO-set standards during our programmes," he added.   

The strain was detected in a sewerage sample taken from the Amberpet sewerage treatment plant during routine surveillance after 30 samples were taken from various parts of the city on May 17.

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Nandini