Gurgaon Girl Child not a Polio Case, Tests show

Gurgaon, Feb 3 (IANS) The sample report of an 18-month-old girl child, who was suspected of being afflicted with polio, tested negative here, a doctor said Tuesday.

Symptoms of polio were noticed in the right leg of the child hailing from Heli Mandi town near Pataudi, around 30 km from Gurgaon city.

Her right leg suddenly went numb, nearly 20 days ago, when she was playing inside her house.

After examining the child, private doctors had said it was polio.

The case was then brought to the notice of doctors at the civil hospital.

Samples of the child were sent to the Central Research Institute in Kasauli in Himachal Pradesh a fortnight ago.

Doctor Dhirendra Tyagi, WHO consultant at Gurgaon, told IANS: "The test report revealed that it was not polio. We believe the case may be of Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP) that can happen due to many reasons, especially circulatory disorder."

He said that AFP was not uncommon, but such cases are sent for polio tests because the disease still exists in the neighbouring countries Pakistan, Afghanistan.

Last year, 75 such reports were sought from Gurgaon and all turned out negative.

India was declared a polio-free country by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2011.

Polio exists in many African countries including Nigeria and Somalia.