North Waziristan: 10th polio case reported

Confirmed as wild poliovirus (type-1) case on Monday from North Waziristan Agency.

PESHAWAR: The National Institute of Health in Islamabad confirmed another wild poliovirus (type-1) case on Monday from North Waziristan Agency which brings the total number of cases in 2014 to 10.

The latest victim of the crippling disease is Hilal, 12-month-old daughter of Sadaullah who is a resident of Datta Khel in Miranshah. It is said all children who have been diagnosed with polio in the current year did not receive a single dose of the oral polio vaccine. A ban was placed by the Taliban in North and South Waziristan agencies in 2012.

An official at the Chief Minister’s Polio Monitoring Cell also confirmed the latest case. The official said due to the ban on immunisation in the two agencies, an estimated 260,000 children remain deprived of polio vaccination.

So far a total of 10 cases have been reported from Pakistan in 2014, all of which have surfaced in North Waziristan Agency.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 11^th, 2014.