Polio: Three more cases surface

Virus found in two children from Khyber Agency, one from Bannu.

PESHAWAR: Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency seems to have become a virtual incubator for the polio virus as two more cases were reported on Thursday.

Another case reported from Frontier Region Bannu the same day has pushed the total number of cases to 13 this year.

The National Institute of Health (NIH) Islamabad confirmed the polio virus in 23-month-old Ilyas, a resident of Alladand village in Bara. According to the NIH report, the infected child did not receive the oral polio vaccine in the last six months because Bara has been inaccessible to anti-polio campaigns.

Another case from the same area has been cited in the report; four-month-old Mehran was found infected with the crippling disease after his stool sample tested positive for poliomyelitis. Mehran belongs to Nawiya Qamar in Fort Slop, Bara.

“We are vaccinating children at transit points in the agency and also provide vaccines in various hospitals. Some areas in Bara, however, have remained inaccessible for many months due to law and order problems,” said an official from the Expanded Programme on Immunisation.

The third case was reported from Frontier Region Bannu where a laboratory found 22-month-old Ghanema, a girl from Miawar Khel, Baka Khel had contracted polio. Ghanema had only received one anti-polio vaccination in the last six months.

On June 3, the NIH confirmed an eight-month-old from Bara was infected with the type-1 polio virus. Abubakr Siddique, the patient, is a resident of Haji Mullah Khel Hujra, Akakhel in Bara.

The first case in Bannu district this year was reported on February 7 when 13-month old Muzakar was found infected. Muzakar lives close to South Waziristan Agency which has been declared as ground zero for the virus outbreak.

This year, four polio cases have been reported in K-P, two in Sindh, one in Punjab and six in Fata.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 7^th, 2013.