Toddler killed, teen paralysed by polio in KP

ISLAMABAD: A two-year child died after poliovirus paralysed his respiratory muscles in North Waziristan while a 16-year-old boy was paralysed in the Lakki Marwat town of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, raising the tally of polio cases to 17 in Pakistan, officials said on Thursday.

“A two-year-old boy from the Tehsil Ghulam Khan of the North Waziristan was found infected with poliovirus, who died due to paralysis of his breathing muscles”, an official of the Polio Eradication Initiative (PEI) in Pakistan told The News.

Sharing the case history of the child, the PEI official said the child developed fever, vomiting, fits and weakness in all four limbs on August 09, 2022, and was taken to a hospital in Bannu on 10 August. “Next day, the child was taken to a paediatrician in Miranshah where the case was notified as Acute Flacid Paralysis (AFP). The child’s condition was serious so the parents took him to a paediatrician in a private clinic in Peshawar who also notified the case again on 12 Aug 2022. The case was diagnosed as GBS, and unfortunately, he died before stool collection. So the samples were collected from 3 contacts (2 cousins, 1 playmate) and the case is confirmed through a positive contact (playmate)”, he added.

The second boy, the official said, is a resident of UC Mar Mandi Azeem of district Lakki Marwat, adding that On August 09, the patient was unable to stand on his left lower limb for which he consulted a local doctor who did not notify the case. “On 10 Aug 2022, he consulted a Medical Officer at BHU Manjiwala who at once notified the case. The clinician followed the case definition and suspected poliomyelitis in any age which triggered reporting, investigation and confirmation”, the PEI official added.

“These two more cases are concerning and saddening. As we saw recently the polio case in the US, that while children under five are most at risk of this virus, people of any age can contract polio,” said Federal Health Minister Abdul Qadir Patel. “It is crucial to understand that the only protection from polio is vaccination, and this reinforces the importance of routine immunization during childhood.”

“Polio will keep haunting until we interrupt transmission,” said Federal Health Secretary Dr Muhammad Fakhre Alam. “The case of the 16-year-old boy shows how robust Pakistan’s virus detection network is because it highlights that we can identify polio cases in children outside the usually expected age,” he said.

National Emergency Operations Centre Coordinator Dr Shahzad Baig voices concern about the spread of poliovirus as millions of people in the country stand displaced. “The scale of the current calamity is absolutely devastating. As part of the polio programme, our network of health workers is here to support in every way we can, but I am concerned about the virus taking a foothold as millions of people left their homes for refuge elsewhere.”

Balochistan, parts of southern Punjab and 23 districts of Sindh could not carry on a vaccination drive as floods swept away homes and villages around the country. However, despite the extreme climatic conditions, polio teams reached children in all accessible areas.

“I am grateful to our polio teams for braving extreme weather in Punjab, Karachi, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Gilgit Baltistan, and Islamabad, and completing the campaign there. They are our saviours, protecting countless children from life-long paralysis,” said the health minister.