Rajbiraj, Apr. 15: Mahendra Saha and his wife Amirka, residents of Maubaha VDC-7, Tikaliya, Saptari district, are saddened because their little daughter has been afflicted by polio. Besides the Saha couple their neighbours are also worried that the disease might also have afflicted their children too just like it silently crippled Rima, the one and a half year old daughter of the Saha couple.

Couples of months ago Rima walked easily in the courtyard of the house without any difficulty but now she can’t walk with ease.

A few steps of walking makes her tired and she has to take rest before walking further. She only walks with great difficulty, says Mahendra Saha, the little girl’s father. Rima was taken to Laxmipur Bazaar in India for treatment by her parents after she suffered from cold and cough nearly two months ago. The Saha couple spend Rs 4,000 in her treatment but she was not well. Then a local health worker suggested Saha couple take Rima to a nearby health post. The medical workers at the health post suspected polio and referred Rima to the district public health office.

Eastern region surveillance officer of the polio eradication Nepal Dr. Gangaram Chaudhari, who examined Rima sent a sample of her stool to Thailand for tests. The medical reports from Thailand confirmed that Rima was afflicted with the “Point P-1 Virus”, a pathogen that caused polio.

Later it was confirmed that Rima was suffering from polio and the Ministry of Health also declared her a polio patient.

According to Dr. Chaudhari Rima is a polio patient and it is now wise to take precaution so that the polio virus doesn’t affect other children in the locality. Doctors say polio is a crippling disease and once a person is afflicted with it , he/she becomes disabled for life. They say polio is caused by three strains of polio virus. They say Rima carries the more poisonous strain of the virus which affects the patient more. She should have been paralyzed by now. But it is her luck that Rima is only slightly affected by the disease, says Dr. Chaudhari.