PESHAWAR, Aug 16: The NWFP Health Department has detected a fresh case of polio, raising the number of cases to five in the province this year, a WHO official said.
“Fazalullah, 2, son of Khalilur Rehman, has been confirmed as a polio case by the National Institute of Health (NIH), Islamabad,” said Alamzeb, district support officer of the Polio Eradication Initiative (PEI) in Bannu district.
He said that the child belonged to Arsala Mohallah of the Metakhel village in Bannu district. He claimed that the child’s family had been refusing to administer oral polio vaccines (OPVs) and during the past two years, Fazalullah had been administered anti-polio drops only once and that too when he was out of his home with the family.
The WHO official said that refusal by families in Southern districts to administer OPVs to their children had become a problem. His father, an unauthorised medical practitioner in the same locality, was reluctant to immunise his children and his elder son had also not been vaccinated. Three cases of polio had been detected in May last, said the official.
Adnan Khan, 2, was diagnosed positive for polio virus on May 18, which was followed by Asma, 3, in Dir district on May 22. On May 26, Haseena, 2, was diagnosed with polio virus in Bannu district.
Official said the virus found in a child in Bannu district had its origin in the Hilmand province in Afghanistan. The area where the child lived is close to the Orewala refugee camp in Bannu.
Similarly, the genetic mapping had shown that the case diagnosed in Dir district had connection with the Kunar province in Afghanistan.
All these children were administered anti-polio drops, the official said, adding that the first polio case of the year in the province had been detected in March.
An Official at the PEI of the WHO for NWFP and Fata said here that a 14-month-old boy, Raees Khan, was diagnosed a polio patient despite having administered polio vaccines.
He said the child belonging to the Sulmankhel tribe belonged to the Lachra union council in the Dera Ismail Khan district.
His father had migrated to Pakistan from Gardez about 30 years ago. The Official said the child had received 11 doses of oral polio vaccine.