SAJAWAL: A fresh polio case emerged from district Sajawal in Sindh, taking the total number of cases to five in the province during on-going year.
With the fresh emergence of new case, the number of the poliovirus rose to 15 in Pakistan this year. According to the Emergency Operation Centre for Polio (EOC), the eight-month-old Azeem Abdul Rehman had received two doses of the polio vaccine. However, there was zero routine immunization hence his immunity was week.
The date of onset of Azeem was September 3, 2016, according to EOC. With five cases, Sindh has been second highest administrative unit in the country after seven cases of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The contagious polio disease can be prevented by vaccination. It is spread from person to person and through contaminated food and water, according to experts.
Polio can attack central nervous system and destroy the nerve cells that activate muscles, which may cause paralysis and death. Polio (poliomyelitis) mainly affects children under five years of age. EOC coordinator for polio Fayaz Jatoi along with representatives of United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) called for an emergency meeting
in Sajawal.
Disappointment: The EOC coordinator expressed great sorrow and disappointment and appealed to parents that they must vaccinate their children against polio and they must also ensure routine immunisation so their children’s immunity against illness increases.
