Prevalence of paralytic poliomyelitis in Pondicherry, South India

A community health survey conducted in 16 villages of three blocks of Union Territory of Pondicherry detected lame children affected by poliomyelitis among other problems identified. The survey was conducted from July 1980 to September 1981. The survey method was house-to-house, covering 97% of the houses in the study area. Prevalence of lameness due to poliomyelitis among children aged from 6 to 15 years was 1.6 per thousand. These results were compared with those of the school health survey conducted by the School Health Education Bureau, Pondicherry, for the year 1980-1, which gave an estimate of 0.7 per thousand. The community health examination also confirmed that most of those affected were under 15 and that boys were more vulnerable than girls, as reported by other workers.