KARACHI: Two baby girls from Badin and Sujawal districts were detected to have been suffering from the crippling disease of poliovirus, officials at the Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) for Polio in Sindh confirmed on Tuesday.

The total number of polio victims detected this year in Sindh has reached seven, while 59 cases have been reported since 2013.

Sindh EOC coordinator Fayaz Jatoi said both the girls, aged 18 months and 11 months, had received multiple doses of polio vaccine. “The 18-month-old girl from Sujawal had received one polio dose during routine and six during special campaigns, while the other baby had three doses of polio vaccine during routine immunisation drives and five during our campaigns,” he added.One of them had an onset of polio on Nov 3, as her both legs were affected, the official said.

Their stool samples had been sent to the National Institute of Health, Islamabad. Unfortunately, they had been confirmed as the fresh cases of polio,” said Mr Jatoi.

Officials said 59 polio cases had been reported in Sindh since 2013. Ten cases, eight in Karachi and two elsewhere in Sindh, were reported in 2013, while the figure increased to 30 in 2014 when Karachi accounted for 23 cases and the remaining seven surfaced in other parts of Sindh. Twelve cases were documented last year.

The national tally of polio cases has climbed to 18.

Published in Dawn, November 23rd, 2016