November 15, 2003	Saturday	Ramazan 19, 1424

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RAWALPINDI, Nov 14: The country has had 81 confirmed cases of polio till October and this number is nearing last year’s figure of 90, an official report said.

Till last year, the number of confirmed polio cases had been witnessing a gradual decline. However, it is being feared that this year the numbers may surpass those of the preceding year.

The report said so far this year the Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP) system detected 1,836 cases below 15 years of age. Eighty one cases had positive culture for wild polio virus, 1,641 cases were discarded as non-polio AFP, nine cases were polio compatible and 105 cases were pending classification.

Though Sindh has had the highest number of confirmed cases (26) this year, there has been no case from the province after July 29, 2003. The last confirmed case was reported from Badin.

According to province-wise distribution for the other provinces, the Punjab had 17; the NWFP, 24 and Balochistan, 14. There has been no evidence of polio virus transmission for more than three years in the Federally Administered Northern Areas, Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Islamabad.

The districts which had recently reported polio incidence were Sheikhupura and Kasur (Punjab); Mohmand, Buner and Khyber (NWFP); Pishin and Killa Abdullah (Balochistan).

Profiling of the confirmed cases showed that children from the Punjab and NWFP, falling victim to the disease, were on low to median OPV dose.

Both Sheikhupura children had three and 11 OPV doses, while the boy from Kasur had eight doses. Similarly, in Buner and Mohmand both boys had five and 10 OPV doses.

Doctors believed that these children would have had lesser resistance compared to other children of their area as they might have received lesser OPV doses.

The doctors stressed that parents should give maximum possible number of doses.

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