Polio virus detected in two-year-old girl in Balochistan

Parents claim Hanifa was given polio drops; officials say this is Balochistan's first confirmed polio case in 2015

QUETTA:  A new polio case emerged in Balochistan as a two-year-old girl was detected with the crippling disease in Qila Abdullah district.

An official of the Balochistan health department confirmed two-year-old Hanifa, daughter of Abdul Salam, had contracted the crippling polio virus.

Hanifa Bibi is a resident of Union Council Daman Ashezai in Qila Abdullah district, which shares a border with Afghanistan.

Hanifa’s parents claim she was administered polio drops during the many campaigns.

The case brings to 13 the number of polio cases detected this year.

Although health officials have termed this case the first confirmed case of polio in Balochistan in 2015, earlier, a polio case was confirmed in Shafi Mohammed in Chagai district on the first day of 2015.

Read: First polio case of 2015 emerges in Balochistan

As many as 23 cases of poliovirus were detected in Balochistan in 2014. Meanwhile, at least nine polio workers and security guards have so far been killed during the last five months in Quetta and Zhob.

Read: Bodies of kidnapped polio workers, police guards found in Zhob