4 additional cases of polio were found in KP and Balochistan, bringing the total for the year to 41 – Pakistan

Sirajuddin | Syed Ali Shah

Four cases of polio were reported Monday in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Baluchistan, bringing to 41 the total number of cases detected across the country so far this year.

According to the KP Emergency Operations Center, two new polio cases were discovered in Bannu district; the debilitating disease was confirmed in a 12-month-old girl in the Jani Khel area and in a 30-month-old boy in the Fatah Khel area.

Bannu has been declared an "extremely sensitive" zone with regard to the prevalence of poliomyelitis, KP EOC said in a statement. With the latest addition, the number of polio cases detected in Bannu this year has increased to 16.

In Baluchistan, the first two cases of polio of the year were reported in the districts of Jaffarabad and Qilla Abdullah.

According to sources in the Balochistan emergency operations cell, an eight-month-old child would fall prey to poliovirus in the Jano Kahool region of Shaman. Health officials in Shaman described parents' refusal to vaccinate their children as the underlying reason for the new case.

Samples taken from a nine-month-old child in Jaffarabad also confirmed the presence of the disease.

The Baluchistan government has already declared an urgency to eradicate polio.

Pakistan is one of the last two countries in the world, along with Afghanistan, where polio cases have been reported. So far this year, 41 cases of poliomyelitis have been reported across the country; KP, including the newly merged tribal districts, three in Punjab and Sindh, and two in Baluchistan.

In contrast, 12 cases were reported nationwide last year and only eight in 2017.

Poliomyelitis is a highly infectious disease caused by poliovirus that mainly affects children under five. It invades the nervous system and can cause paralysis or even death. Although poliomyelitis can not be cured, vaccination is the most effective way to protect children from this debilitating disease. Whenever a child under five is vaccinated, its protection against the virus is enhanced. Repeated vaccinations have protected millions of children from polio, allowing almost every country in the world to get rid of polio.