Four new polio cases reported from Balochistan and NWA
Four new polio cases surfaced on Saturday raising the number of polio victims to 235 this year, as official date obtained by Pakistan Today reveals that Karachi contributes a sizeable percentage of the crippling virus’s circulation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and parts of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).
According to National Health Institute (NHI), three polio cases were detected in Qila Abdullah of Balochistan and one in North Waziristan.
The affected children have reportedly been diagnosed with the P1 virus.
Out of the total 235 cases detected this year so far, 151 were detected in FATA, 48 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 23 in Sindh, 10 in Balochistan and three in Punjab.
However, official statistics show that 20 per cent of polio virus circulation in five districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhawa is genetically linked to Karachi, while the metropolis contributes two per cent of the crippling disease’s circulation in FATA.
The revelation follows the World Health Organisation’s recent warning that Karachi is a pivotal destination to be made polio-free to make the rest of the world safe. The WHO has made it clear that ending polio in Karachi would end the disease not only in Pakistan but in all east Mediterranean nations.
“Karachi serves as an amplifier, exporting wild poliovirus nationally and globally,” it says.
According to the official documents, the percentage of cases linked to Karachi are 9 per cent in Peshawar, 74 per cent in Tank, 66 per cent in Buner, 100 per cent in Tor Gar district, and 50 per cent of cases in Mardan. The data shows that Karachi also has a two per cent polio virus circulation link to FATA cases.
Overall, 6 per cent of cases from KP and FATA are said to be linked to Karachi.
The data shows that 45 per cent of all KP and FATA polio cases are linked to North Waziristan Agency, 22 per cent linked to Khyber agency, 10 per cent to South Waziristan, and 8 per cent are linked to Peshawar.
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