2 new polio cases in Lakki Marwat, 1 in Harnai bring total to 76 this year

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Lakki Marwat district on Sunday reported two new cases of polio and Balochistan's Harnai district reported one, bringing the country's total this year to 76.

The two victims from Lakki Marwat — a seven-year-old girl and a 21-month-old boy — are residents of the Sarai Naurang tehsil, a report released by the Emergency Operation Centre said.

According to the EOC, both affected children had not been administered the polio vaccine.

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The presence of a polio virus in their systems was confirmed via a stool test. The total number of cases across the province now number 56.

The EOC report cited "refusals by parents" as the top reason for the scale of the virus' resurgence witnessed this year.

EOC Coordinator Abdul Basit said that the polio drops "are completely safe" and urged parents to pay no heed to the "misleading propaganda" aimed at discouraging the administering of the drops.

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He said that despite the challenges being faced, the government is determined to continue its fight for the complete eradication of polio.

For this, reaching each and every child is compulsory, said Basit. "And cooperation from parents and all sections of society is mandatory."

In Balochistan, the victim is an 11-month-old boy from district Harnai, who "developed a fever on September 25", a report from the province's EOC said.

The boy was taken to a medical store at Shahrug Harnai, where he was "given an I/M Injection", said the report.

"As the condition of the child did not improve, he was taken to another informal health care provider, where he was given medication," it added.

The report further said that on the morning of September 27, the child "developed weakness initially in the left leg followed by the right leg" and was taken to the Saeed Hospital in Kuchlak, Quetta, where he was administered antibiotics intravenously.

"As the condition still did not improve, he was taken to Tariq Clinic in Kuchlak, Quetta on October 2, where he was reported as an AFP (acute flaccid paralysis) case," according to the EOC report.

The child had been immunised once during a routine drive. However, the family was constantly on the move between Ziarat and Harnai, the EOC observed in its report.

A province-wide break up of cases as on October 20, is given below:

Total polio cases in Pakistan (2019) = 76

(WPV1 Confirmed Cases):