Two more polio cases surface in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

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A boy receives polio vaccine drops, during an anti-polio campaign, in a low-income neighbourhood in Karachi, Pakistan, April 9, 2018. Photo: Reuters 
 

PESHAWAR: Two more cases of polio virus were reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the provincial government's health department said on Thursday.

According to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Department, the polio cases emerged in North Waziristan’s Mir Ali district and Dera Ismail Khan, bringing the number of cases to 13 for this year.

The health department has decided to launch a three-day polio virus campaign in high-risk districts from June 17.

In March, two new cases of the polio virus were reported from Karachi and Khyber District. 

Last month, residents broke down the main gate and set fire to the Mashokhel Hospital in Peshawar after 40 children allegedly fell sick after being administered anti-polio drops.

Residents staged a demonstration outside the hospital and damaged the property. The protesters also broke down the main gate of the hospital and set the building on fire.

Along with Afghanistan and Nigeria, Pakistan is one of the only three countries where complete polio eradication has not yet been achieved.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), polio has been all but wiped out across the world following a sustained vaccination campaign, with only 22 cases reported in 2017 against more than 350,000 in 1988. There is no known cure but the disease can be prevented if children are given multiple treatments with the polio vaccine, the WHO says.

While it has virtually eliminated, polio remains a threat to global health because as long as a single child remains infected, the virus can easily be spread into polio-free countries and unimmunised populations, according to the health body.