Two more polio cases surface in KP, Sindh
The total number of polio cases in the country has escalated to six in current year.
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – At least two polio cases surfaced in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh, taking the toll to six across the country in current year, Dunya News reported on Thursday.
According to National Emergency Operation Centre, polio virus has been confirmed in 12-month-old child in tehsil Landi Kotal of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Khyber District.
Another polio case was reported in Karachi, taking the toll to six across the country in current year.
Polio is a highly infectious disease that invades the nervous system and can cause irreversible paralysis in a matter of hours.
A $5.5 billion global eradication plan was launched in April with the aim of vaccinating 250 million children multiple times each year to stop the virus finding new footholds, and stepping up surveillance in more than 70 countries.
It is now endemic in only two countries, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Pakistan’s polio cases are declining, with just 54 cases of polio virus reported last year, down more than 80 percent from 2014, when the country suffered a large spike in cases.
Efforts to eliminate polio in Pakistan have been complicated in recent years, as polio workers have faced attacks by militants who say the health teams are Western spies, or that the vaccines they administer are intended to sterilise children.
