Another polio case detected in North Waziristan

ISLAMABAD: Another case of poliovirus was surfaced in the North Waziristan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province as an infant was crippled for life despite immunization, taking the tally of polio cases to 18 this year in the country.

“Wild poliovirus-1 has affected another child in the Tehsil Razmak of North Waziristan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The three-month old boy had received three doses of oral polio vaccine (OPV) during the series of vaccination drive but due to weak immunity, he was paralysed for life”, an official in the National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination told The News.

With the latest polio case, the total number of polio cases has reached to 18, including 16 from the South Waziristan and two from Lakki Marwat district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Stemming from North Waziristan, the wild poliovirus is circulating in the entire country as the poliovirus was also detected in the sewage sample in Karachi.

In August, as many as 11 positive environmental samples were detected across the country, including five each from Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, and one from Sindh, said the officials, adding that so far, 22 positive environmental samples had been detected during the year.

The federal ministry’s officials said the environmentalsample that detected positive in Karachi was collected on August 23 from the Bakhtawar Village in the Landhi area of Karachi. “This is the first positive environmental sample from Karachi in 2022. The previous positive sample from Karachi was reported in May 2021. The last wild poliovirus case from the district was reported in June 2020. The recent polio campaign in the district was conducted from August 15 till 21,” an official explained.

As many as 22 positive environmental samples were detected in 2022, including seven from Bannu, three each from Lahore and Peshawar, two each from Rawalpindi and Swat, and one each from Nowshera, Bahawalpur, Sialkot, Karachi and Islamabad. In a month-wise break up, one positive environmental sample was detected in April, two in May, one in June, seven in July, and 11 in August 2022.