Patna, Dec. 27: Bihar has not reported a single polio case in the past 15 months, the longest period that the state has seen without any incidence of the disease.

State health secretary Sanjay Kumar today credited people, who worked relentlessly to make this possible, with drop in the number of cases of the disease.

The health secretary was speaking during a polio eradication programme organised by the state health department and Unicef in the state capital.

On the occasion, the department, along with Unicef, felicitated 10 persons for their role in polio eradication programme over the past few years. The health secretary handed over mementos, token gifts and certificates of appreciation by Accredited Social Health Activist and Anganwadi workers, doctors and employees of social welfare and health departments to the 10 people.

“We are closer to eradicating polio than we ever were. However, the risk of resurgence of a residual polio transmission or importation of the virus from other countries still remains. That is way we are on alert to respond to any virus importation,” he said.

The health secretary said the risk of the polio virus entering Bihar would remain as long as it persists in other parts of the world.

“To mitigate this risk, we are taking all possible measures in the state to sustain a high population immunity and ensure strict vigil for detection of polio transmission. The state is also geared up to rapidly respond to any case of wild polio virus importation into Bihar with high-quality polio campaigns,” he added.

Bihar reported nine cases of polio in 2010, 117 in 2009 and 233 in 2008. The last case of polio was detected in Dhaka block of East Champaran in September, 2010. It was reportedly attributed to a cross-border transmission from Nepal.