Kolkata, Jun 15 (IANS): Eight years after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared India as polio-free country, germs of the polio virus have been detected from the gutter waters in a pocket in Kolkata. However, so far there has been no report of any child being affected by the virus.

It was way back in 2011, a polio-affected victim was detected in in Howrah district, close to Kolkata.

According to the state public health department sources, the virus was detected from the gutter waters in the congested Metiabruz area that comes under Number 15 borough of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation.

"The authorities conduct regular tests of gutter waters in different pockets in Kolkata and recently the germs of polio virus have been detected from the gutter waters in the Metiabruz area. An emergency meeting was conducted in Kolkata soon after that which was attended by Eastern Indian representatives of the WHO. It was decided to conduct a thorough surveillance in the area to identify whether there is any child with immune-deficiency syndromes. At the same time, stress will be given on arrest of open defecation and vaccination," a senior officer of the health department said.

Similarly, all the state-run medical colleges and hospitals have been instructed to conduct stool tests of all immunity deficit children admitted there.