ISLAMABAD: The primary case of polio throughout excessive transmission season has been reported resulting from which tally for the present yr has reached 50.
In accordance with an official of the Nationwide Institute of Well being (NIH), who requested anonymity, the kid belongs to Balochistan.
“A 17-month-old female child, resident of Kila Abdullah district, Chaman tehsil, Sirki Taleri union council, has become the fresh victim. The child’s lower limb has been paralysed and the socioeconomic status of child is declared poor,” he mentioned.
The official mentioned the kid didn’t obtain even a single dose of oral polio vaccine over the past six supplementary immunisation actions [polio campaigns] resulting from which she simply fell prey to the crippling virus.
Youngster from poor background acquired no dose of vaccine throughout six campaigns
“Unfortunately, due to the novel coronavirus (Covid-19), the polio campaigns have been severely affected and it is feared that the number of polio cases can increase in the coming months as high transmission season has started,” he mentioned.
It’s price mentioning that poliovirus stays much less energetic within the low transmission season from September to Could due to low temperatures. Nonetheless, it turns into extra energetic from June to August, which is when extra kids may be affected. That’s the reason even polio campaigns are halted throughout excessive transmission interval.
In accordance with the info of the present yr, as many as 20 instances have been reported from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 17 from Sindh, 11 from Balochistan and two instances from Punjab.
In 2019, as many as 146 instances of the crippling illness had been reported as in comparison with 12 instances in 2018 and solely eight instances in 2007.
Polio is a extremely infectious illness brought on by poliovirus primarily affecting kids below the age of 5. It invades the nervous system, and might trigger paralysis and even dying.
Whereas there isn’t any treatment for polio, vaccination is the best strategy to defend kids from this crippling illness. Every time a baby below the age of 5 is vaccinated, his/her safety towards the virus is elevated. Repeated immunisations have protected hundreds of thousands of kids from polio, permitting nearly all nations on the planet to grow to be polio free.
Nonetheless, there are solely two nations on the planet — Pakistan and Afghanistan — the place polio instances are nonetheless being reported.
Revealed in Daybreak, June sixth, 2020
