Four more polio cases were confirmed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Federally Administered Tribal Areas

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Four more polio cases were confirmed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) on Tuesday, raising the total number of polio cases to 111 in the country and 12 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 29 in Fata this year, a health official said.

The recent cases of type-1 polio were detected in Buner and Nowshera districts while two from North Waziristan Agency tested positive for the crippling disease.

According to the report of Prime Minister s Monitoring and Coordination Cell for Polio Eradication, Ilyas son of Ibrahim is a 12-month-old boy having onset of paralysis on September 14, 2011. The child resides in Bajkata Shingra Hujra village in Bajkata Union Council of Gagra tehsil.

The report said the child had received over seven oral polio vaccine (OPV) doses including three of routine immunisation. This is the second polio case reported from Buner district in current year.

In Nowshera district, Ahad Noor son of Noor Muhammad Din is an 18-month-old boy having onset of paralysis on September 8, 2011. The child resides in Mohallah Yaqoob Garhi in Jalozai Union Council of Nowshera tehsil. As per recall of the parents, the child has received more than seven OPV doses including three during routine immunisation. This is the first polio case reported from Nowshera district in current year, the last polio case was reported on September 25, 2010 and it was also from the same union council.

In North Waziristan, two cases were reported. Haleema daughter of Abdullah Din is an eight-month-old girl having onset of paralysis on September 19, 2011. The child resides in Boya Area Land village of Miramshah tehsil. The child has received one dose of OPV.

The other child is Naima daughter Saifullah, who is a 36-month-old girl having onset of paralysis on September 22, 2011. The child resides in Dandy village in Darpakhel area of Miramshah tehsil. The child belongs to an Afghan family and as per recall of the parents the child has not received any dose of OPV. The area has not been accessible for vaccination teams for three years and became accessible in September 2011.

It merits mention here that five polio cases have been reported from North Waziristan this year. The agency reported seven polio cases last year. A total of seven vaccination campaigns have been conducted in North Waziristan Agency since January 2011.

The cell recommended uniform high quality vaccination activities to achieve above 95 per cent coverage at area level, at least in areas accessible for vaccination teams. It should be ensured that truly revised micro-plans are in use in all the areas of the agency. Proper recording of inaccessible areas and populations should be done in order to have a clear picture of the situation. In addition, every effort should be made to utilise windows of opportunities to vaccinate kids in the inaccessible areas or populations from inaccessible areas, the report stated.

Among 12 reported cases of poliovirus from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are five from Peshawar, one each from Nowshera, Bannu, Dir Upper and two each from Buner and Torghar district. From Fata, 29 polio cases have so far been reported including 11 from Khyber Agency, four from Mohmand Agency, three from FR Kohat, two each from FR Lakki Marwat and Orakzai Agency, five from North Waziristan and one each from Kurram and South Waziristan.