Bauchi Gov’t Debunks Report of New Wild Polio Virus in The State.

By Murtala Muhammad

Bauchi State Government has debunked media reports from some quarters that the state recorded thirty eight new cases of Wild Polio Virus.

At a News briefing in his office, the Executive Chairman, State Primary Health Care Development Agency, BSPHCDA, Dr. Rilwanu Mohammed said the report was a misrepresentation of his speech during the Flagg of of 2022 OBR1 vaccination campaign, last Saturday.

Dr. Mohammed explained that the there was nothing like new Wild Polio Virus in the speech, noting that the last reported case of the virus in the state was in 2013.

He however said what was stated in his speech was Circulating Mutant Polio Viruses which were vaccine-drive polio viruses, being found in a dirty environment and causes no paralipsis in children.

According to him the state has detected thirty eight Circulating Vaccine-Drive Polio viruses out of the three hundred and fifteen samples collected form January to December 2021.

Dr. Mohammed said the development was an indication that more effort needs to be deployed to protect children of the state from getting infected.

He called on Nigerians and the international community to disregard the purported unverified reports describing it as fake news.

The Executive Chairman BSPHCDA also urged newsmen to always verify their stories before publishing them.