The polio count in the country went up to 37 in this year when on Friday another case surfaced- this time in Charsadda District of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa as the National Institute of Health (NIH) in Islamabad confirmed the virus in an eight-month-old child.
Stool and blood samples of Muhibullah of Sarak Konoona in Dera Zardad union council, were sent to the NIH after he was suspected of contracting polio. The NIH later confirmed the child was infected with the type-1 virus.
“The child was taken to a hospital for a medical checkup where the doctors suspected he was carrying the virus. After that, we sent the samples to the NIH on August 28 for further tests,” Executive District Officer of Health Dr Fazal Akbar said.
The NIH report revealed that Muhibullah tested positive for the type-1 virus and had received no anti-polio drops.
Dr Imtiaz Ali Shah, the Technical Focal Person on Polio at the Chief Minister’s Secretariat said the family was residing in Karachi and later moved to Charsadda. “The child’s father is a proselytizer, he has 11 children and none of them were ever vaccinated as he is not in favor of this,” Shah stated.
Possible case detected in Bahawalpur
Meanwhile, the case of a two-and-a-half-year-old girl suspected of being infected with the polio virus emerged in Bahawalpur.
Ayesha Khalid, resident of Haleem Market, Khanpur was said to be suffering from paralysis in her legs. As a result, an anti-polio team went to her house, took blood samples and sent it to Islamabad for testing.
Her father, Khalid Naveed claimed that his daughter was administered the polio vaccine during the recent anti-polio campaign in the area.
Conspiracies
In another case, it took three months and 30 visits from aid workers to convince Haidar Khan to let his son have the anti-polio vaccination. “I heard that the vaccine contains pig fat, that it’s haram,” Khan told AFP. “Sermons from the mosque loudspeakers said it was an American conspiracy to damage our children.”
UNICEF has tried to rally influential religious leaders to the cause. In the poor Peshawar neighbourhood of Yakatoot, a team with a fatwa approving vaccinations tried to persuade a young father, Noor Zamin. But his brother, a member of a religious group, stepped in.
“I have made scientific studies on this. I cannot say what I discovered, but the vaccination is anti-Islamic,” he said, before asking the aid workers to leave. (WITH ADDITIONAL INPUT FROM AGENCIES)
Published in The Express Tribune, September 29th, 2012.
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