ISLAMABAD: This year’s first polio case from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has been confirmed, with Polio Virology Laboratory of the National Institute of Health reporting onset of paralysis in a 19-month-old child of Nowshera district.

With the new case, the total number of polio cases to be reported this year in the country has reached two.

An official of the Ministry of National Health Services (NHS) said sample from the child had been collected in January.

“The child, Abdullah son of Jehad Khan, is 19 months old and is resident of Shireen Khotey village, in tehsil and district Nowshera,” he said.

He said the child belonged to an Afghan family and was administered at least 10 doses of polio vaccine during different vaccination campaigns.

The country’s first polio case for the year was reported on Feb 5 from Gadap Town, Karachi. The affected child, Ijaz Khan, was 34 months old and belonged to a Pakhtun family.

“Malnutrition is emerging as a major reason for the disease because the immunity of the affected child from Karachi was very low,” said the NHS official.

Last year, 54 cases of polio were reported in the country.

“We are still hopeful that polio will be eradicated from the country this year,” he said. “We are not going to miss any child during the vaccination campaigns,” he added.

Pakistan and Afghanistan are now the only countries in the world which have been reporting polio cases.

When contacted, chief of the National Emergency Operation Centre, Dr Rana Safdar, said that though children were being regularly vaccinated against polio in Pakistan they were still vulnerable to the crippling disease if they had low immunity.

Published in Dawn, February 20th, 2016