Two new polio cases have surfaced, one each in FATA and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, after which the number of the polio cases in the current year has mounted to 51 in the country. According to the National Institute of Health, polio virus was diagnosed in an 18-month-old child, Asad, resident of Buner while the second case was reported in Khyber Agency where two-year-old Muslim was found suffering from the disease. He had received only one dose of polio vaccine. Dr Jan Baz Afridi, the deputy director of Expended Programme on Immunization EPI of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa confirmed that Asad had polio. The 18-month-old child’s Parents claimed that they had regularly gotten their son vaccinated against polio. “He had received seven doses of the polio vaccine,” the doctor confirmed, adding that some cases were reported in past where the children had been vaccinated. After these two news cases, the number of the polio cases in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had risen to 20 and those in FATA had gone up to 19 in the current years. Dr Afridi said the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Department was planning to carry out special immunisation campaigns in the province. “The aim of the special immunization campaigns is to stop the rising number of polio cases.” However, he said oral polio vaccine was unavailable and as soon as they received it, they would launch the campaigns.
