Alarm in Punjab: Another ‘polio suspect’ dies

FAISALABAD:

The death of second child suspected to be suffering from polio in a couple of days has raised an alarm in the health authorities of Punjab fearing that the crippling disease has resurged in the province despite repeated inoculation drives.

Two-year-old Muhammad Saad Asif, suspected of having contracted polio disease, died at Allied Hospital Faisalabad during treatment on Tuesday night. According to hospital spokesman he was brought to hospital on February 18.

Earlier, a three-year-old girl Basri Farrukh Shah, died in the polio ward of the hospital on Monday night. The doctors suspected that Saad was suffering from poliovirus and sent his samples for diagnosis to National Health Laboratory. However the child died before the lab reports were received.

It takes at least 15 days to confirm the poliovirus pathologically, Medical Superintendent Dr Rashid Maqbool said.

The child was under intensive care at the hospital, he said adding that the patient had lost immune power and was suffering severe weakness. The child was admitted in the polio ward of the hospital and provided intensive care treatment.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 25^th, 2016.