TWO more polio cases have been reported, one in Sindh and the other in Balochistan. This takes the total to 72 this year with 53 cases from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, eight from Sindh, six from Balochistan and five from Punjab.

The report said a 17-month-old girl had become the fourth polio victim in Karachi this year. The remaining four victims in the province included two from Hyde­rabad and one each from Jamshoro and Larkana districts. Sindh had recorded only one case last year, officials said. Polio, short for poliomyelitis, or infantile paralysis, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. In about 0.5 per cent of cases there is muscle weakness resulting in an inability to move. This can occur over a few hours to a few days.

The Emergency Operation Centre official said they had planned to conduct aggressive campaigns from next month to June 2020, aiming to eradicate polio from the environment.

Pakistan is one of the three countries where this disease still exists. The other two are Afghanistan and Nigeria. One hopes that it will be eradicated in the country soon.

Zaheer Ahmed
Kech

Published in Dawn, October 11th, 2019