LARKANA/KARACHI: Provincial health authorities on Wednesday confirmed another polio case, bringing the victims toll to 29 in the province so far this year.

Officials in the expanded programme on immunisation (EPI) in Sindh said that 13-month-old Din Mohammed, son of Majid Ali, residing in Dabee Chandio village of Ratodero union council of Larkana

district was the latest victim of the crippling disease.

His excreta samples were sent to the National Institute of Health (NIH) in Islamabad on Dec 4, which confirmed the poliovirus on Friday.

The district officer health of Larkana, Dr Inayatullah Kandhiro, said the disease affected the boy’s right leg.

He said before this case Larkana had been a polio-free district since 2012 when the last polio case was reported in Saeedo Dero village in Ratodero.

The boy was brought to a private clinic, where his samples were collected and sent to the NIH.

A 10-month-girl in Sanghar was confirmed as an earlier polio victim on Wednesday.

Out of the 29 cases in Sindh, 23 were detected in Karachi. Two cases in Sanghar and one each case was reported in Dadu, Badin, Shikarpur and Larkana.

Pakistan is now burdened with close to 300 polio cases this year with more than 80 per cent of them documented in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Published in Dawn, December 20th, 2014