ISLAMABAD: As many as 10 new cases of polio have been confirmed by the Polio Virology Laboratory at the National Institute of Health in a day, raising the count of reported cases this year to 137 — 20 of them identified over the past five days.

An official of the Prime Minister’s Monitoring and Coordination Cell for Polio said eight cases had been reported from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) and two from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Four children from Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency have been found to be afflicted with the virus — eight-month-old Awais, son of Akhtar Wali, Mera Aka Khel, village Kalanga; 18-month-old Sabir, son of Abdul Rasheed, of Aka Khel, village Kalanga; 18-month-old Hafsa, daughter of Tariq, of Milward, village Sam Garai Aka Khel; and 12-month-old Mohammad Ullah, son of Mohammad Umer, of Mera Aka Khel, village Aka Khel.

From North Waziristan, 23-month-old Sadia, daughter of Raghibullah, of Khushali, village Toori Khel, tehsil Razmak, and six-month-old Safia, daughter of Zar Mohammad, of Dwatoi, village Khar Tangi Mada Khel, tehsil Miramshah, have been confirmed as polio patients.

Two fresh cases have been reported from South Waziristan — 36-month-old Saeeda, daughter of Karim Khan, of village Dra Ghundai, tehsil Wana, and 18-month-old Fawad, son of Imran, of village Karach Khel, tehsil Ladha.

Both the cases reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are from Bannu tehsil — 12-month-old Muntazar, son of Safaid, of Mita Khel, village Sawar Fateh Khel, and 36-month-old Asma, daughter of Nasib Ullah, of village Towda Nar Zindi Falal Sher, Sanwer Khel.

“Of the eight children of Fata, seven had not received any dose of vaccine because a campaign could not be carried out there since June 2012 because of a ‘ban’ imposed by Taliban. Fawad had received one dose through a supplementary immunisation activity,” the official said.

“Polio vaccination campaigns were carried out in Bannu but the children found suffering from the onset of paralysis were not vaccinated because of refusal by their parents,” he said.

He said 102 cases had been reported this year from Fata, 22 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 11 from Sindh and one each from Punjab and Balochistan.

“The number of cases has been increasing in recent years. In 2012, 58 polio cases were reported and last year 93. This year the number has swelled to 137 in just eight months,” the official said.

The National Extended Programme on Immunisation Manager Dr Rana Safdar told Dawn that the off-season for poliovirus had begun and its transmission would slow down with decreasing temperature.

“This is the best time to attack the virus. So we have been considering targeting the hotspots of polio. Every time we miss around five per cent of the children during vaccination campaigns so areas should be cordoned off to ensure that every child is vaccinated,” he said.

“There is an issue of accessibility in Fata so arrangements have to be made to ensure access. Local people are being engaged to hold vaccination campaigns in Karachi and Peshawar from where refusals are being reported,” he said.

However, an expert said the low transmission season would begin in December. “Poliovirus activates in rains so it is feared that the number of polio cases may increase,” he said.

Published in Dawn, September 6th, 2014