Epidemic: Seventy-seven polio cases in six months

PESHAWAR:

Two polio cases were confirmed from North Waziristan by the National Polio Virology Laboratory in Islamabad on Tuesday.

With the latest diagnoses, Pakistan’s total number of reported cases has reached 77. Thirty-month-old Ishaq and eight-month-old Muhammad are both from Miranshah tehsil in North Waziristan Agency and both have been diagnosed with the crippling disease.

Ishaq belongs to Lataka Macha and Muhammad hails from Ghazlami Piran in the tehsil. Neither child had received a single dose of the oral polio vaccine.

According to documents available with The Express Tribune, of the 50 cases in North Waziristan, only one child has received any polio vaccination, including routine or supplementary immunisation.

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