ISLAMABAD: The first polio case of the high transmission season has been reported from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, bringing the polio case count for this year to 12.

The case was confirmed by the National Institute of Health’s Polio Virology Laboratory. A one year old child, whose sample was received by the lab three weeks ago, has died.

The poliovirus is less active during the low transmission season from September to May due to lower temperatures, while June to August is known as the high transmission season.

An official of the national health services (NHS) ministry who is not authorised to speak on the record said that the one year old belonged to a family from Dera Ismail Khan.

One-year-old girl from D.I. Khan who tested positive for polio died before confirmation of diagnosis

“The virus attacked the child’s respiratory system, due to which she could not survive. However, it takes three weeks to confirm the virus, so the virus was confirmed after the child’s death,” he said.

When contacted, the head of the National Emergency Operation Centre (NEOC) for Polio Dr Rana Mohammad Safdar confirmed that a one-year-old-girl from DI Khan was reported to have the poliovirus.

“According to our investigations the child did not receive routine immunisation – which is given after birth – however she received vaccines six times, during different polio vaccination campaigns,” he said.

“Some children have weak immune systems, due to which although they are administered vaccines they still fall prey to the virus. According to research, although the vaccine is very effective it cannot guarantee that 100pc of children who receive the vaccine will be safe from the virus.”

Dr Safdar said Pakistan has pledged to eradicate the virus this year at various international forums, and efforts to this end are being made.

“Once the virus is eradicated the new generation of the country will be completely safe from the virus of crippling disease,” he said.

Apart from this single case, the number of polio cases this year has remained low thus far. In May, all the environmental samples from various parts of the country tested negative for the poliovirus, and four of these samples were from D.I. Khan. A sample is deemed positive if the poliovirus is found in sewerage, and the presence of the virus in the sewerage means that the immunity level of children in the area has fallen.

At the time the negative results of the environmental samples were reported, health experts had said this was an opportunity to eradicate the virus entirely.

Published in Dawn, June 24th, 2016