NEW DELHI: A resurgence of polio cases in northern India has sent alarm bells ringing across the country that is endemic to the disease and is one of the last reservoirs of the wild polio virus in the world.

Total polio cases in India shot up by more than six times last year to 1,509, up from 268 in 2001, according to health ministry figures.

Though the last quarter of 2002 showed some signs of decline, the comeback also sets back the eradication campaign that is already behind schedule. India has already extended its polio eradication target — from the initial 2000 set by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to 2005.

The rise in polio cases, most of them in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, was serious enough to cause Indian Health Minister Shatrughan Sinha to announce that the federal government would undertake the polio eradication drive “on a war footing”.

Uttar Pradesh accounts for 68 percent of the global polio burden. In India alone, it accounted for nearly 80 percent of the cases (1,197) last year. After Uttar Pradesh, its eastern neighbour Bihar had the next highest number of cases.

“It (the rise) is embarrassing. But we are also worried that polio might spread from Uttar Pradesh to adjoining densely populated areas,” Shobhan Sarkar, head of the polio eradication programme in the federal government’s health ministry, said.

The fears are not unfounded. India’s capital Delhi shares its eastern border with Uttar Pradesh and reported 24 polio cases last year — mostly in children of slum dwellers who had migrated from Uttar Pradesh.

Migrants from Uttar Pradesh increased last year after a severe drought shrivelled most of the crops there and destroyed the livelihood of thousands of small and marginal farmers. Health officials and experts were particularly alarmed by the sudden spurt in polio cases from January to September last year.

The WHO epidemiological unit confirmed that compared to 268 cases recorded from January to December 2001 in India, the country already had 254 cases from January to August 2002.

The only silver lining appears to be a report in January that indicates that after the alarming rise up to September last year, the number of cases in Uttar Pradesh declined from September to December. The report by Jay Wenger, WHO manager of the independent polio surveillance project, says the monthly figures in Uttar Pradesh fell from 334 in September to 18 in December 2002.

India has been implementing an intensified Pulse Polio Immunisation (PPI) campaign since 1995.In 1999, India launched additional immunisation drives in its eight endemic states, including Uttar Pradesh.

Almost the entire cost of India’s anti-polio drive is met by external agencies including the World Bank, the European Commission, governments of Britain, Germany and Japan, the United Nations Children’s Fund, and Rotary International.

The alarm triggered by the spiralling polio cases was such that even academic institutions joined the anti-polio drive in Uttar Pradesh this year.

In the Jan. 5 immunisation drive, the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) vice chancellor led health and social workers in Aligarh and Moradabad districts in a public awareness drive to dispel misconceptions about vaccination. Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan too was roped in, and is polio campaign visuals are aired on prime time in several television channels.—Dawn/InterPress News Service