Acute flaccid paralysis

Abstract

Poliomyelitis is an acute viral infection caused by RNA virus. It is primarily an infection of the human alimentary tract but the virus may infect the central nervous system in a very small percentage (1%) of cases resulting in varying degrees of paralysis, and possibly death [1]. The extensive use of polio vaccines since 1954 has virtually eliminated the disease in developed countries. The South East Asia Region (SEAR) contains the largest remaining reservoir of wild polio virus in the world. The incidence of reported poliomyelitis cases has declined by 90% [2]. In this era of eradication of polio, even a single case is treated as an outbreak and preventive measures should be initiated, usually within 48 hours of notification of the case [3]. One of the most important and major objectives of Nation wide Polio Eradication programme is to ensure timely and complete reporting of cases of acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) and to collect stool specimen within 14 days and conduct outbreak response immunisation (ORI) as early as possible. Here we report one case of AFP which was diagnosed, notified, investigated and managed within 8 hours and stool specimen collected within 48 hours of reporting of the case. The case was epidemiologically investigated as per the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and WHO guidelines and ORI was conducted in the community next day. The response in this case not only shows coordinated effort of curative and preventive medicine but how health teams of civil and army should function in cohesion to curb any public health problem.