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5 polio cases reported, more feared

* New polio virus cases traced to Northern Areas, says expert

Staff Report

KARACHI: Five polio cases have been reported in Karachi recently and have been traced to out-of-town carriers. More cases are suspected to have developed, sources in the health department disclosed to Daily Times.

According to one health officer, one case emerged from Bin Qasim Town and the other from Keamari Town. The patient from Keamari was taken to the National Institute of Child Health (NICH) on Thursday and is under surveillance. A confirmation report from Islamabad is expected by Sunday evening. The City District Government Karachi (CDGK) and World Health Organisation (WHO) regional officers are tasked with monitoring the disease. NICH Prof. Dr Jamal Raza said that one of cases was affected with paralytic polio, whose ratio is 1 in a 100 but there was a probability that 10 more could be affected but remain unreported.

Sources in the health department added that one polio case was reported last month from North Karachi and one from SITE Town. The National Institute of Health Sciences, Islamabad confirmed the SITE case. One polio case from Gulshan-e-Iqbal Town was made known to the authorities but even though a specimen from the suspect patient should be sent to NIHS within 14 days, it was ignored. The experts also claim that as it was compatible, the case could be more dangerous than a confirmed case of polio. Compatible cases are dangerous because these carriers of the poliovirus might affect many other healthy children.

The WHO directly allocates funds for the eradication of polio but they are misappropriated. The eradication campaign is the responsibility of the Town Health Officers (THO). The recent cases have emerged from poorly developed areas where awareness must be spread.

The WHO’s Dr Yahya Mustafa was approached at his office for details but he declined to comment.

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