A 16-year-old boy from Lakki Marwat and a two-year-old boy from North Waziristan are among those impacted, making this the second case from Lakki Marwat, the 15th case from North Waziristan, and the 16th and 17th cases from Pakistan overall this year.
Both children’s paralysis began on August 9, according to Pakistan’s National Polio Laboratory at the National Institute of Health Islamabad on Wednesday, August 31st. The teenage kid has left leg weakness, but the affected child in North Waziristan had broad body weakness and died afterwards.
” These two new incidents are both frightening and heartbreaking. “As we saw with the most recent case of polio in the U.S., this virus is most dangerous to children under the age of five, but anyone can get it,” said Federal Health Minister Abdul Qadir Patel. “It is very important to realise that the only way to avoid getting polio is to get vaccinated. This points out the need for routine childhood vaccinations.”
“Polio will follow us until we stop transmitting,” warned Federal Health Secretary Dr. Muhammad Fakhre Alam. “The case of the 16-year-old boy demonstrates how robust Pakistan’s viral detection network is, because it demonstrates that we can identify polio cases in youngsters who are older than the typical age,” he said.
Dr. Shahzad Baig, the National Emergency Operations Centre Coordinator, voiced concern over the spread of wild poliovirus as millions of people in the country are displaced. “The magnitude of the current disaster is extremely heartbreaking. ” Our network of health workers is here to help in any way we can as part of the polio campaign, but I am genuinely concerned about the virus gaining a foothold as millions of people flee their homes and seek sanctuary elsewhere.”
As floods washed away houses and communities across the country, Balochistan, sections of southern Punjab, and 23 districts of Sindh were unable to perform vaccination drives. Despite the harsh weather, polio teams reached children in all accessible places. ” I am grateful to our polio workers for completing the campaign despite heavy rains in Punjab, Karachi, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan, and Islamabad. ” “They are our saviours, saving many youngsters from life-long paralysis,” stated the health minister.
Editor’s Remarks: Polio is a disease caused by the poliovirus that is very contagious and mostly affects kids under the age of five. It infiltrates the nerve system, causing paralysis or even death. Even though there is no cure for polio, the best way to protect children is to get them vaccinated. With the exception of Pakistan and Afghanistan, where polio is common, repeated vaccinations have kept millions of children from getting polio. This has made it possible for almost all countries in the world to become polio-free. .
