Consider the following statements about Poliomyelitis 1. It is a highly infectious viral disease, which mainly affects young children. 2. The virus is transmitted by person-to-person and spread through contaminated water or food. 3. With latest developments in medicine, Polio disease can be cured 4. India became the first country globally to introduce fractional doses of IPV in childhood immunisation programme Which of the above statements is/are correct?

Option 3 : 1, 2 and 4 only

The correct answer is Option 3, i.e 1, 2 and 4 only.

• Poliomyelitis (polio) is a highly infectious viral disease, which mainly affects young children.
• The virus is transmitted by person-to-person spread mainly through the faecal-oral route or, less frequently, by a common vehicle (e.g. contaminated water or food) and multiplies in the intestine, from where it can invade the nervous system and can cause paralysis.
• Initial symptoms of polio include fever, fatigue, headache, vomiting, stiffness in the neck, and pain in the limbs. In a small proportion of cases, the disease causes paralysis, which is often permanent.
• There is no cure for polio, it can only be prevented by immunization. Hence, statement 3 is NOT correct.
• India was the first country in the world to introduce fractional-dose inactivated poliovirus vaccine into its immunization programme. A phased introduction started in 2016 and coverage was expanded throughout the country in 2017 (Source - WHO)