Frequency of polio vaccination linked to paralysis: study

The number of cases of non-polio acute flaccid paralysis increased from 7,260 in 2000 to 59,462 in 2012, says a study;

The rise in the rate of NPAFP has no correlation with other socio-economic factors such as illiteracy levels, population density or level of poverty. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Published on:

06 Sep 2018, 12:42 am

A new study shows that there is a direct correlation between oral polio vaccination (OPV) and rising number of paralysis in the country. The study analysed data from 2000 to 2017.

Between 2000 and 2010, when campaign of polio eradication in India was at its peak, the rate of non-polio acute flaccid paralysis (NPAFP) rate was 13.35 per 100,000 under 15 year olds. The expected NPAFP was 150, 666 between 2000 to 2017 but it rose to 642,370 cases which was up by 49,1704 excess cases. After India was declared polio free in 2012, the rate of paralysis started decreasing.

Data was obtained from the National Polio Surveillance Programme (NPSP), reported by the government of India.

Currently Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Nigeria continue to report cases of endemic wild polio.

Published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, the authors of this paper are Jacob Puliyel, Rachana Dhiman, and Sandeep C Prakash of Department of Pediatrics, St Stephens Hospital, Delhi and V Sreenivas of Department of Biostatistics, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi.

In some states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, the rate of NPAFP was high at 35 and 25, respectively. The paper clearly states that the rise in the rate of NPAFP has no correlation with other socio-economic factors such as illiteracy levels, population density or level of poverty.

The data between 2000 and 2017 shows a clear correlation between rise and fall of number of NPAFP in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

The number of cases of NPAFP has increased from 7,260 in 2000 to 59,462 in 2012. Since then, it has started declining as the frequency of OPV has reduced after declaration of polio free. The number was reduced to 38,232 in 2017.

Internationally, the incidence of NPAFP is 1 to 2/100,000 in the under-15 population. Data studied from 2000-2010 correlated a strong relation of rate of increase of the NPAFP with the OPV rounds conducted.

The paper lauded the effort of government of India for eradication of polio but at the same time it has warned the increase in frequency of OPV.