Five more cases surface from FATA, K-P

KARACHI:

The emergence of four more polio cases from the tribal areas and one from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) has pushed the country’s total to 58. In the same period last year, only eight cases had been reported.

On Tuesday, the National Institute of Health Islamabad confirmed the presence of the poliovirus in three children from North Waziristan Agency (NWA), one from South Waziristan Agency (SWA) and one from Bannu.

According to the PM’s Polio Monitoring Cell, Lal Meena, daughter of Neer Mohammad Khan, is six years old and a resident of Kishi village in Miranshah, NWA. She belongs to a nomadic family and has received only two doses of the oral polio vaccine (OPV). The onset of paralysis for the child began on April 9.

The second child is 11-month-old Ayesha, daughter of Smasullah and resident of Eso Khel village in Mirali, NWA. The onset of paralysis began on April 10 and Ayesha has not received a single dose of OPV.

The third polio case from NWA is 14-month-old Sadil Khan, daughter of Muhammad Janan and resident of Miranshah. Furthermore, 15-month-old Najma was the fourth polio victim reported on Tuesday.

She is the daughter of Abdul Salam and resident of Dab Kot area in Dzha Ghundai village, Wana, SWA. The onset of paralysis began on April 8 and the child has also not received any OPV.

The fifth child diagnosed with polio hails from Bannu. Ten-month-old Essa, son of Gul Maruf is a resident of Merian tehsil. He has not received a single dose of OPV.

Of the 58 cases reported this year, 45 are from Fata, nine from K-P and four from Sindh.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 30^th, 2014.