QUETTA: A 30-month-old boy of Quetta was tested positive for poliovirus on Tuesday, confirming the first case of the crippling disease in Balochistan this year.

The victim was identified as Mohammad Ikram, a resident of Samungli Road area, a locality on the outskirts of Quetta. This is the third polio case reported in the country this year. Last year, seven polio cases were reported in Balochistan.

Dr Syed Saifur Rehman, the coordinator of Emergency Operation Centre in Balochistan, said that vaccination campaign against polio was launched in Balochistan every month. A recent campaign was launched in 15 sensitive districts of the province, he added.

He said poliovirus was found in the sample of sewage in Qila Abdullah.

He appealed to parents to cooperation with vaccinators for making the polio eradication campaigns successful.

Ikram Junaidi adds from Islamabad: The Polio Virology Laboratory at the National Institute of Health (NIH) on Tuesday confirmed poliovirus in Quetta’s Mohammad Ikram.

An official of the Ministry of National Health Services said that the sample from the child was taken on Feb 1.

“The male child was a resident of UC Samungli, Quetta, and he belongs to a local tribe. He has received seven doses during a polio campaign. However, he did not receive any dose of polio vaccine during routine immunisation which shows that the access of routine immunisation is very poor,” he said.

Under routine immunisation children get polio vaccine at the time of birth and then at 6, 10 and 14 weeks of age. Meanwhile, polio vaccine is also given during polio campaigns.

“The current case has increased our worries because we are in second month of the year and polio cases have been reported from three provinces — Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan,” he said.

“However, the only thing which is giving us hope is that all three children, who have been reported with polio, had received multiple doses of polio which shows that we are going on right way,” he said.

“Last year as many as 54 cases of polio were reported. We are still hopeful that the polio will be completely eradicated from the country in 2016 because we are not going to miss any child during polio campaigns,” he said.

Pakistan and Afghanistan are only two countries on the globe where poliovirus is found. The two countries share a long border. Although children are vaccinated at all legal entry points, a large number of people travel between the two countries using illegal routes.

Talking to Dawn, head of National Emergency Operation Centre Dr Rana Safdar said that though children were being vaccinated in Pakistan they were still vulnerable to the crippling disease because of low immunity level.

“Areas where there are bad sanitary and hygiene conditions the immunity level has dropped. If a child has diarrhoea during polio campaign the vaccine does not stay in the body and becomes less effective,” he added.

Giving the example of India where polio has been eradicated, Dr Rana Safdar said that when India was close to the eradication of the disease children who had received 10 doses were reported positive for poliovirus.

“We were already anticipating it and it shows that we are close to polio eradication because now children are not missed during campaigns. We have identified some pockets in Karachi, Khyber, Quetta and Peshawar and decided to introduce Inactivated Polio Vaccine (IPV) in next campaign to be held in March,” he said.

Published in Dawn, February 24th, 2016