Fewer than 20 cases reported during the same period last year. PHOTO: FILE
The National Institute of Health (NIH) in Islamabad confirmed on Tuesday the country’s 83rd polio case of the current year.
According to the institute, five-month-old Hazrat Ali, son of Sher Nawab, is the latest victim of the crippling disease. He hails from Kaza Mada Khel village of Datta Khel in Miramshah, North Waziristan. Ali had not received a single dose of the polio vaccine.
This takes the total number of cases in the year to a staggering 83, of which 65 have been reported from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata). In Khyber-Paktunkhwa, 12 cases have been reported while six have surfaced from Sindh. During the same period last year there were fewer than 20 reported cases.
The wild type-1 polio case is the 54th from North Waziristan Agency where the Taliban have imposed a ban on vaccination.
A health official said all children diagnosed with the virus had not received a single dose of the oral polio vaccine as a result.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 18th, 2014.
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