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Patna, Sep 21 (IANS) At a time when Bihar is on the verge of eradicating polio, more than 400 families here refused to immunise their children against the disease, saying the orally-administered drops cause impotency, an official said Wednesday.
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"More than 400 families have refused to vaccinate their children against polio in different localities," a health official associated with polio campaign said.
The government, the World Health Organization (WHO) and Unicef have been seeking help of local representative and social activists to convince people in the state not to refuse polio drops.
"Most of these families are poor and illiterate. Due to lack of awareness, they refused the polio drops," a WHO official said.
From recording the second highest number of polio cases in the country after Uttar Pradesh in 2009, Bihar has not reported even a single case of the disease in the last one year.
Sanjay Kumar, executive director of the state health society, said that no reports of P1 and P3 cases -- types of polio virus -- have been reported since September 2010.
He said that if the state is able to maintain the situation for two more years, it will have successfully eradicated polio.
Since December 1995, 45 pulse polio immunisation rounds have been conducted in Bihar.
"Though the state has not reported any case of wild polio virus Type-III for the last one-and-a-half years and of Type I since last September, the immunisation drive will continue," he said.
In 2009, 117 polio cases were reported in Bihar, while the figure was over 230 in 2008. In 2010, nine polio cases were recorded -- all before September.
Earlier this year, the state government identified 41 blocks -- among them Araria, Bhagalpur, Begusarai, East Champaran, Darbhanga, Khagaria, Madhubani, and Samastipur -- which were highly polio endemic.
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