A child being administered the polio vaccine. File picture

Behrampore, Feb. 2: Seven out of the eight polio cases in Bengal last year were from Murshidabad, the district magistrate said today. In 2009, there were no polio cases in the state.

“Of the seven polio victims, three are from Shamshergunj, two from Khargram and one each from Suti and Farakka,” district magistrate Parwez Ahamad Siddiqui said. He said the eighth victim was from Birbhum’s Muraroi.

Murshidabad’s chief medical officer of health Syed Shahjahan Siraj said the polio-affected areas of Bengal were only 10-15km from Jharkhand’s Pakur district, where eight polio cases were reported last year.

Siraj said the polio virus was active on “a patch of land covering some areas of Murshidabad, Birbhum and Pakur”. He said vaccination programmes would be further intensified in Murshidabad, with special emphasis on Shamshergunj, Khargram, Suti and Farakka. “We want to administer vaccines to all children in these four areas,” Siraj said.

In 2006, the lone polio victim in Bengal was from Shamshergunj. Only one case of polio was reported in 2007 — in Burdwan’s Asansol. In 2008, a polio victim each was found in Howrah and South 24-Parganas.

In 2009, there were no polio cases in the state. “So, the detection of eight cases in 2010 is a cause for worry,” DM Siddiqui said.

District officials said the pulse polio vaccination programme had not been successful in the affected areas. They said the areas in Murshidabad from where polio cases were reported were all Muslim-dominated. Muslims comprise 63 per cent of the district’s population.

“The poor and unlettered villagers (in the affected areas of Murshidabad) are superstitious about the polio vaccine. Also, the villagers frequently boycott the pulse polio programme to protest the lack of development. I want to request the villagers not to deprive their children of the polio vaccine,” Siddiqui said.

Keith Feldon, a representative of the World Health Organization, and Jenny Horton, a consultant from the National Polio Surveillance Project, are touring the affected areas of Murshidabad and trying to create awareness about the vaccination programme. They have also asked district officials to intensify the vaccination drive.

“We are touring the affected areas and trying to know the reasons why parents are not having their children vaccinated,” Horton said. She said the district administration’s drive to create awareness was “satisfactory”.

The Murshidabad administration has decided to hold a vaccination drive between February 5 and 7. “We will organise camps across the district on February 5. On February 6 and 7, health workers will go from door to door to administer the vaccine,” a health official said.