Polio virus in FATA: 14 suspected cases in a day set alarm bells ringing

All but two suspected cases are from North Waziristan; samples sent to NIH.

PESHAWAR:

In a serious setback to the government’s efforts to eradicate poliovirus from the country, 14 suspected cases were reported in North Waziristan Agency and Frontier Region Bannu on Tuesday. Stool samples of the children were sent to the National Institute of Health (NIH) in Islamabad for confirmation.

A Taliban immunisation ban in North and South Waziristan agencies has dealt a serious blow to the government’s campaign against the crippling virus. The ban has left more than 250,000 tribal children vulnerable.

All but two suspected cases reported on Tuesday were from the Mir Ali, Razmak, Spinwam and Miramshah areas of North Waziristan. Alarmingly, so far this year three of the 14 confirmed polio cases in FATA are in North Waziristan. If the NIH confirms the new cases, North Waziristan would have 15 children with polio. The remaining two suspected cases of Tuesday were reported from FR Bannu.



There is a serious threat of poliovirus spreading to adjoining districts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and across the international border to Afghanistan, said an official privy to the matter. “The government’s efforts to eradicate poliovirus are going down the drain because of Fata, especially North and South Waziristan agencies.”

An official at the Fata Secretariat said vaccinators had not been allowed access to the area since June last year and if children were not inoculated, more polio cases could emerge. “We have made transit posts where children under 10 years of age leaving and entering the agency are being vaccinated. But there is great population movement inside the agency so the chances of the virus spreading are high.”

Published in The Express Tribune, August 21^st, 2013.