ABSTRACT
Poliomyelitis has assumed immense public health importance owing to the magnitude of problem. The present study describes clinical, epidemiological and virological profile of seventy four cases of severe forms of acute paralytic poliomyelitis admitted to Kalawati Saran Children Hospital, New Delhi, during the period from August, 1986 to May, 1987. Thirty two per cent of total paralytic poliomyelitis cases were diagnosed as severe cases. Highest incidence (45.95%) of the cases were in the age group of 6-12 months and male to female ratio was 2.08:1. There was preponderance of cases from urban area. Among all the cases, 12.2% had received three or more doses of oral poliovaccine. Fever and respiratory involvement were the commonest symptoms. Sixty seven patients (90.5%) were virologically or serologically confirmed as an acute poliomyelitis due to any of the three poliovirus type. On follow up of the cases, complete recovery could be seen only in 4.2% of cases with varying degree of residual paralysis in 95.8% cases.