Polio case detected in DG Khan

LAHORE: This year’s second case of wild poliovirus (WPV1) in Punjab has been confirmed in Dera Ghazi Khan district, which raised the toll to 49 in the country. The first case of Punjab was also detected in DG Khan.

“A male child from DG Khan’s Tehsil Taunsa Sharif and Union Council Mangrotha, aged 36 months, has been diagnosed with polio,” the Punjab Polio Programme confirmed on Saturday. The spokesman of the Punjab Polio Programme confirmed the case and said the programme is in the process of verifying vaccination history of the child.

The child, who belongs to a poor household, has suffered paralysis of upper left limb, which was first detected on 04-05-2020. The child’s samples were taken on 09-05-2020 and 10-05-2020. The Supplementary Immunization Activity (SIA) and Routine Immunization (RI) doses are under investigation, while the sequencing result is also under process.

With the detection of a new case in Punjab, the total number of polio cases in the country has reached 49 in the current year. As many as 20 cases have been reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 17 in Sindh and 10 in Balochistan. A total of two polio cases were confirmed in Punjab among overall 54 cases in 2015; no case was reported in Punjab among a total of 20 cases in 2016; one case was confirmed in Punjab among overall 8 cases in the country in 2017; and none was reported in Punjab among 12 cases confirmed in the country in 2018.

Currently, the polio vaccination campaign is on a halt due to the ongoing Covid-19 situation in Pakistan.