Polio: 13 new cases surface in one day
Thirteen new wild type-1 polio cases were confirmed by the National Institute of Health on Tuesday from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) as well as Karachi.
The youngest child Muzammil, aged eight months, a resident of Guldar Bagheecha village in Chaman tehsil had not received any dose of the polio vaccination. This brings the national total to 158 cases: 113 from Fata, 27 from K-P, 12 from Sindh, 2 from Punjab and 3 from Balochistan.
The other cases include Shaqiba, aged 12 months, a resident of Ali Khel Sher Kali village in Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency. Other cases from Bara tehsil include Mustafa, aged 30 months, a resident of village Mada Khel Miran Talab, and Riaz, aged 29 months, from village Drangoona Zawa.
From tehsil Razmak in North Waziristan Agency, Akhtar Bilal, aged 12 months, is a resident of village Asad Khel. Abdul Basir, aged 30 months, is a resident of Shoi Khel village in the same tehsil.
From tehsil Wana in South Waziristan, cases include Hameed Ullah, aged 10 months, a resident of village Dana Paloosha, Malalai, aged 9 months and a resident of village Shin Warsak. From tehsil Totali in district Buner, a 2-year-old child Umia and an 18-month-old child Saira from village Dandikot were found to have the polio virus.
From district Tank, Sabeela, aged 13 months, a resident of village Karyana Kalu Parrangi was found to have received no dose of the polio vaccine. Kubra, an 18-month-old girl from village Majoka in district Bhakkar was also found to have the polio virus. The thirteenth case arose from Karachi, where a 22-month-old girl Rafia from Gadap Town was found to carry the virus.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 17th, 2014.