Number of polio cases radically down: Azad

New Delhi: Dec 02, 2010

Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said the new bivalent polio vaccines have brought down the number of polio cases to just 39, from 800 last year. Speaking at a health summit organised by the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), Azad said the vaccine which targets both type 1 and type 3 polio viruses can be a tool to eradicate polio completely. We were able to eradicate the type 2 polio virus, but for type 1 and type 3, when vaccine was given for one, the other type virus became active, making the efforts useless, Azad said.However, the bivalent vaccine was launched by the president in Jan 1 this year, and in a period of 10 months, the number of polio cases has come down to 39 from 800 last year. This may well eradicate polio completely, he said.

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