Crippling virus: New polio case confirmed in Peshawar

PESHAWAR: Another new polio case was confirmed in Peshawar on Wednesday, pushing this year’s tally of polio cases in Pakistan to 21. According to sources in the National Institute of Health (NIH), 16-month-old Ismail, son of Hayatabad resident Ziaul Haq, has been diagnosed with polio. He contracted the virus despite receiving six doses of the oral polio vaccine (OPV), they said. Total cases in Pakistan this year now stand at 21. Eight of these have been confirmed in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa – four in Peshawar, two in Tank and one each from Nowshera and Lakki Marwat.  Another six cases have been reported from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas while four and three have been reported from Sindh and Balochistan respectively.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, April 2^nd, 2015.