Two-year-two-month-old Zeeshan was diagnosed with the P3 polio virus on November 29 this year by the unit
Zeeshan, a ‘resident’ of Yeshwanthpur, was admitted to KC General Hospital on November 5 with fever. He developed the typical polio virus symptoms, of fever and loss of mobility in lower limbs.

The hospital authorities immediately alerted Reproductive and Child Health Officer Dr Ganesh who examined Zeeshan and sent a sample of his stool to NIV on November 12.

 Zeeshan is the fourth child of his parents Mohammed Javed and Taufeeq Khannum, from Faizabad, UP. His elder three siblings — all girls are dead.

 He has a younger brother, who is two months old and is presently with his mother in his home town. His parents are petty jewellers.

“They had not vaccinated the child and were not aware that he has been afflicted with polio,” said Dr V Narayan Holla, Surveillance Medical Officer, National Polio Surveillance Project, WHO.

The team of doctors and health officers, immediately acted and vaccinated all the children, below five years, in the vicinity.

 “There are about 64 families with 78 children living in the hutments in Yeshwanthpur, near Mandovi Motors showroom. Later, we visited other families in the surrounding areas and administered oral polio vaccine to the target age group children. The vaccination process is still on,” said Dr Holla.

“The Central and State government have stepped up efforts on a warfooting and are launching the mop round (administering Oral Polio Vaccine ) to children in a week’s time. We will cover the selected districts, of Bangalore, urban and rural, Ramnagaram and BBMP,” he said.

“Unfortunately we cannot do anything for Zeeshan, he has been crippled for life but we are making all possible efforts to protect other children. On December 9 we are giving OPV to arrest the virus because it may be in circulation,” he added.

Zeeshan’s family has since fled the place.

“The Rotary District 3190 and all the clubs in the district give logistic support to the BBMP and the health department to carry out the immunisation programme effectively.

Rotary Foundation of Rotary International funds the project along with Unicef, WHO, Central and State governments and Council for Disease Control and Prevention,” said Rotarian and Chairman, Prasad Sundaram, district Polio Plus Committee.

Immunisation drive
Following reports of a polio case in Bangalore City, Rotary International is carrying out a special immunisation drive on December 9 said Rotary District Governor Rajendra Rai.

SPECIAL DRIVE
The health department has appealed to the people to ensure that every child (below five years) is immunised for polio during the special drive (irrespective of the number of doses they have already had) in the three districts - Bangalore Urban including BBMP, Bangalore Rural and Ramanagara - on December 9.

Poliomyelitis, often called polio or infantile paralysis, is an acute viral infectious disease, which spreads from person to person, primarily via the fecal-oral route.