LANDI KOTAL: The Emergency Operation Centre for Polio Eradication in tribal districts on Thursday confirmed detection of another polio-affected child in Bazaar-Zakhakhel area here in Khyber tribal district.

An official said that the tests of one-year-old Umar Hayat, son of Hayat Gul, were sent to National Institute of Health, Islamabad, where doctors confirmed his ‘partial paralysis’ due to poliovirus infection.

They said that the child was given regular polio vaccination and thus was saved from complete paralysis. “Reflexes of the affected child are normal and would be able to walk when he grew up,” health officials said.

The detection of poliovirus in Bazaar-Zakhakhel child is the second case of its type in the region since October last year when a three and a half years old girl child was detected with similar polio symptoms.

Published in Dawn, March 22nd, 2019