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October 4, 2002

INTERNATIONAL IMMUNIZATION NEWS

"9/11 Backlash Sparks Polio Panic in West Bengal"

Economic Times of India (www.economictimes.com) (10/04/02)

In West Bengal, India, fear and hatred following the terrorist attacks on America on Sept. 11, 2001, reportedly have sparked resistance to polio shots among a group of Muslims, leading to an increase in the number of polio cases in the Murshidabad district.  According to the state's director of family welfare, R.P.S. Kahlon in Kolkata, "Villagers were told that the polio drops were made by the Americans to make the Muslim children infertile.  We have come across women who were beaten up for allowing our health workers to administer the polio drops to women."  Kahlon said the misinformation was keeping people from being vaccinated and as a result, more cases of polio were being recorded, with 21 cases reported in the Jangipur subdivision of Murshidabad since May and another case from Murarai in nearby Birbhum.  Last year, only one case of polio was recorded in the state.  To counter the villagers' fears, officials have launched a house-to-house immunization campaign, and Imam of Kolkata's Nakhoda Masjid, Md Sabir, has also lent his support to the effort.

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