2-year-old fights off poliovirus with strengthened immune system

Case proves perfect vaccination and sensitive surveillance in province, says K-P health secretary


Umer Farooq September 22, 2017
Attention to kids coming to Punjab from other provinces recommended.

PESHAWAR: In a rare turn of events, a two-year-old baby girl has done what no other child in her age group has ever done before. She resisted the crippling poliovirus.

Zunaira, hailing from Lakki Marwat, had received seven doses of vaccine as well as inactivated polio vaccine in April this year, which made it possible for her body to fight off the virus.

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There are two types of vaccine that protect against polio – inactivated poliovirus vaccine and oral poliovirus vaccine. The inactivated one is given as an injection in the leg or arm, depending on the patient's age.

However, questions were raised after the National Institute of Health (NIH) confirmed Zunaira was carrying the virus as she did not bear any visible signs of paralysis.

According to Zunaira’s case summary, a copy of which is available with The Express Tribune, her uncle drove her to a local practitioner, most likely a quack, as she had fever. She was administered intramuscular injection into her right buttock which had a side effect that weakened her right leg.

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According to the preliminary report for acute flaccid paralysis, the case was reported on August 21 and the stool samples were collected on August 28. The samples were then sent to the NIH on August 30 followed by another sample the following day. The results tested positive for poliovirus. After DNA sequencing, the virus was traced back to Multan.

Zunaira’s history-sheet reads she did not belong to any migrating group nor did her family members travel outside of Lakki Marwat within 35 days of the paralysis.

The vaccination status reads that the child was vaccinated seven times in the past and six times during the last six rounds.

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The vaccination details also confirmed the child had been administered inactivated polio vaccine on April 26 which had strengthened her immunity against the crippling virus.

“Yes, the virus exists but Zunaira’s strengthened immunity [due to the vaccine] saved her from being crippled for life,” a senior health official told The Express Tribune. “I am proud of our surveillance system as the moment her leg weakened we got a whiff of it.”

According to some senior officials who were in Lakki Marwat on Thursday following the case, this Type-1 virus was present in South Waziristan in 2015 and was later detected in Multan in 2016. In 2017, environmental samples tested positive for the virus in Rawalpindi and Islamabad, they added.

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“This [Type-1 virus] is currently present in Qambar and we have traced the virus [found in stool samples collected from Zunaira] back to Multan following DNA sequencing,” one of the officials informed.

Moreover, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Secretary Health Abid Majeed has already sent a letter to K-P Chief Secretary Azam Khan explaining the situation. The letter states, “It shows that children are being covered under the Expanded Programme on Immunisation and polio eradication campaign, which is a positive finding”.

The letter adds that the virus was detected by the sensitive surveillance system put in place by the health department recently.

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