Polio virus cripples another child in Karachi

• Wild poliovirus 1 affects a two-and-a-half-year-old baby.
• This is the fifth case of polio this year in Pakistan.
• The child who contracted polio was an Afghan national.

Another child was maimed by the polio virus in Karachi’s Gadap town, bringing the number of cases to six in Pakistan this year. The news health officials were quoted as saying on Sunday.

“A 31-month-old boy was infected with wild polio virus 1 at the notorious UC-4 Gujro, Gadap town in East Karachi district. It is the 5th case of polio in 2023 in Pakistan and the 2nd case in Karachi,” said an official of the Emergency Center (EOC) Sindh.

The official claimed that the latest polio case had been reported from the same area in Gadap town where the fourth polio case of the year was reported last month. He added that the fifth child infected with polio is an Afghan national.

“This child had received three doses of oral polio vaccine (OPV) as per routine vaccination, two doses of intravenous polio vaccine (IPV), while the child has also received doses of OPV on more than seven occasions,” the official claimed citing the original research. of the case.

He said genetic sequencing of the isolated virus was underway, but no travel history of the child had emerged. He added that an intensive investigation has been launched to ascertain the circumstances that led to the resurgence of the polio virus in Karachi.

It is worth mentioning here that most of the polio cases in Karachi have been reported from the same UC-4 Gujro, Gadap Town, which has been a hub of Afghan nationals who regularly travel to their native areas in Afghanistan from there.

UC is also known for refusing to be vaccinated against polio during anti-polio campaigns.

On Thursday, it was reported that wild polio virus type 1 (WPV1) was detected in nine environmental samples collected in October. Four of these specimens were collected from Karachi, two from Chaman and one each from Peshawar, Kohat and Nowshera.

According to officials, the total number of polio cases in Pakistan in 2023 reached five, while the new detections brought the total number of positive environmental (sewage) samples in the country in 2023 to 64.