PESHAWAR, March 7: The NWFP has confirmed a second case of polio in the province, bringing the total of polio cases to two this year.

“We have detected an eight-month-old Afghan boy, Hasanullah son of Merajuddin, at a refugee camp in Tirah, Khyber Agency, as confirmed case of polio,” said Dr Waheed Khan, deputy director of the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI).

He said that the child had received only two doses of oral polio vaccine (OPV) during the National Immunisation Days (NIDs). However, he was not given OPV from the routine EPI because of inaccessibility to the area.

Dr Khan said that the child hailed from the Nangrahar province of Afghanistan and frequently travelled with his parents there. Citing laboratory reports, he said the child had carried the virus from Afghanistan.

He said the first polio case was reported in the province in February. A 10-month-old child, Abdul Saleem, of Rashakai village in Nowshera, has been diagnosed with polio. The family of the child had shifted to the village from the Bajaur Agency and its members often visited the tribal area, he added.

“The Bajaur Agency reported four of the 15 polio cases detected in the NWFP and Federally Administered Tribal Areas in 2006,” Dr Khan said.

Sindh has so far recorded three polio cases this year.

Dr Khan said that a meeting held recently decided to formulate polio eradication strategies at the local level. He said that three edicts issued so far in favour of OPV had been circulated.