Crippling disease: Polio cases soar past last year’s tally

Number of children hit by virus reaches 94, up from last year’s 93.

PESHAWAR: The number of polio cases in the country this year reached 94 on Wednesday as two more children were diagnosed with poliovirus in Khyber Agency and Peshawar. The number of confirmed cases of poliovirus during the first seven months of this year crossed last year’s total count of 93.

According to National Institute of Health (NIH), Islamabad, 14-month-old Hajira, daughter of Muhammad Ghani, has been confirmed of having the poliovirus. She is from village Zakha Khel, tehsil Bara, Khyber Agency and received no doses of the vaccination.



The second child diagnosed with the virus is 6-month-old Habiba, daughter of Hanif, a resident of union council Sheikh Muhammadi, Koga Wala, Town-4, tehsil Peshawar.

However, with these new cases, the total number of polio cases rose to 94 in 2014, which includes 70 from Federally Administered Tribal Areas, 16 from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and eight children from Sindh.

The highest number of polio cases – 55 – have been reported from North Waziristan Agency, while so far five children have been diagnosed with polio in South Waziristan Agency, eight from Khyber Agency and two from FR Bannu.

In K-P, six cases have been reported from Peshawar so far, plus nine from Bannu and one from Mardan.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 17^th, 2014.