Poliomyelitis control by annual immunization campaigns with oral polio-virus vaccine in a rural area of India.

The effectiveness of Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) delivered in annual immunization campaigns in reducing the prevalence of poliomyelitis was evaluated in January 1989 by conducting a sample survey in 66 villages in Northern India with a population of 42,000. The prevalence of residual paralytic poliomyelitis was 13.4 per 1,000 children born during 1974-1978; this is 2.7 times higher than the rate of 5.0 per 1,000 born in 1979-1983 and 9.6 times higher than the rate of 1.4 per 1,000 born during 1984-1988. The marked decline in disease prevalence in recent years may be related to the rise in OPV immunization. The vaccination rate was less than 26% before 1978, 38-75% during 1979-1983 and 77-89% during 1984-1987. The annual immunization strategy can be used to control poliomyelitis in developing countries where the health care infrastructure is not well developed.