PAKISTAN: Three new polio cases from FATA bring total to 66 this year

The Express Tribune

Three children were diagnosed with poliovirus type 1 in Fata, bringing the total number of cases to 66 this year, Express News reported on Monday.

According to an official press release from Prime Minister’s Polio Monitoring & Coordination Cell, the presence of the virus was confirmed in three children.

Two of the cases were from North Waziristan while the third was reported from South Waziristan. The children afflicted with polio are six-month-old Afsa Bibi and 22-month-old Waqas from North Waziristan as well as 22-month-old Romana from South Waziristan.

In almost all cases reported from North and South Waziristan, the persons have never received an oral dose of polio vaccine, the press release states. No polio campaigns have been conducted in these areas since June 2012. The press release also mentions that 54 of the 66 cases of polio reported in the country have been from Fata. This tally includes 44 cases from North Waziristan, five from South Waziristan, two from Khyber Agency and one from Bannu. Nine of the cases have been from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and five from Sindh.

These cases have been reported at a time when the World Health Organisation (WHO) has recommended that travel restrictions be placed on Pakistan, Cameroon and Syria for being the only three countries that are currently exporting poliovirus.