Bauchi State Govt Debunks Resurfacing of Wild Polio Virus

By Bashir Hassan Abubakar

Against the background of news making rounds in some national dailies insinuating resurfacing of Wild Polio Virus (WPV) in Bauchi State, the State Government has debunked such claims, describing it as a “misrepresentation of Information”.

Addressing journalists in his office Monday evening, the Executive Chairman of Bauchi State Primary Health Care Development Agency (BSPHCDA) Dr. Rilwanu Mohammed said that there has not been any case of Wild Polio Virus in any part of the state since 2013.

He said that what BSPHCDA detected was 38 cases of Circulating Vaccine-Derived Polio Viruses out of the 315 samples collected from January to December 2021.

Dr. Rilwanu further said that as part of the post-polio free certification activities, the World Health Organization (WHO) has directed every country to intensify surveillance activities, strengthen routine immunization for children and continuous public health education.

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He disclosed that, “the circulating vaccine-derived polio viruses which are referred to as the circulating Mutant Polio Viruses (cMPV) normally results from mutation (change of form/characteristics) of the attenuated polio viruses used in the manufacturing of the Polio Virus. These are not Wild Polio Virus (WPV) that causes paralysis, but are used as indicators to measure the quality of immunization services and disease surveillance”.

“Bauchi State like other states of the Federation remains free from Wild Polio Virus. The last case of WPV detected in the state was in 2013. All measures to prevent the recurrence of the virus as recommended by WHO are religiously followed in the state”, said Dr. Mohammed.

He said that, that was the reason why he kept stressing during his speech at the flag off of OBR 1 campaign last Saturday that “It is not WPV but cMPV that was detected in the state.”

Dr. Rilwanu Mohammed therefore urged media houses to always verify facts about any information before publication.