Punjab reports another polio case

LAHORE: The polio emergency operation center Pakistan has reported one more polio case from Punjab on Friday, taking the provincial tally figure for this year to 10. 

A four-year-old child tested positive for poliovirus in Punjab’s Ahmedpur East tehsil of Bahawalpur, raising the province’s tally to 10 for the current year, health officials said. It is the second polio case recorded in Ahmedpur East in 2020, the officials added.

The child belongs to a rural far-flung area whose hands, feet, face and neck have been affected by the paralysing disease. The child, who belongs to a poor family, is stated to be in a critical condition.

On May 20, a four-year-old girl had also tested positive for poliovirus in Osta Mohammad Tehsil of Jaffarabad. The child had not been administered the polio vaccine and his family was also found wanting in this connection. Samples of the child were taken on April 20 and 21.

According to Pakistan Polio Eradication Programme’s website, so far 74 cases of poliovirus have been recorded in the country in 2020.

Earlier, Speaking at a pediatric vaccine conference organized virtually by Sanofi Pakistan on August 23, Maria Carmen B Nievera, a medical expert at biopharmaceutical company Sanofi had warned that there was a likelihood of a rise in polio cases in Pakistan later this year due to the interruption in vaccination as a result of the plague.

In addition, Professor Sajid Maqbool, a professor emeritus of the Institute of Child Health, said the data collected during the Expanded Programme for Immunisation reflected that bacterial meningitis claimed the lives of 23,000 to 25,000 children annually in the country.

Polio is a highly infectious disease caused by the poliovirus mostly affecting children under the age of five. It invades the nervous system and causes paralysis or even death.

Unfortunately, Pakistan is one of only three countries in the world, alongside Afghanistan and Nigeria, affected by poliovirus.

the number of children contracting the poliovirus in the country in 2020 has reached 74.