Pakistan: 2019 Polio - 141 cases to date

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Source: https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/201...hi-localities/


Poliovirus detected in samples taken from seven Karachi localities
by News Desk , (Last Updated about 1 hour ago)

Seven samples collected from sewages in different localities in Karachi tested positive for poliovirus on Wednesday.

The areas from where the samples were collected include Sohrab Goth, Gadap Town, Hijrat Colony, Saddar, Pakistan Industrial Development Corporation (PIDC), Haji Mureed Goth and Liaquatabad.

It is pertinent to mention here that the anti-polio campaign in the country has been facing serious impediments as more and more cases are reported every other day, raising questions over the quality and effectiveness of vaccinations being provided to children...

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Source: https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/201...-cases-emerge/

Two fresh polio cases emerge
by APP , (Last Updated 2 hours ago)

ISLAMABAD: The National Emergence Operation Centre (NEOC) on Friday confirmed two new polio cases from Quetta and Bannu.

According to an NEOC official, so far this year, up to 47 polio cases have been reported from across the country.

He added that out of the total, 36 cases have been reported from Khyber Pakthunkwa (KP) and its merged tribal districts, three cases from Balochistan, five cases from Punjab and three cases from Sindh.

He said that the cause behind poliovirus in both children from Bannu and Quetta was refusal of polio vaccination by parents...

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Source: https://www.samaa.tv/news/2019/08/an...n-balochistan/

Another polio case reported in Balochistan
Asim Khan
2 hours ago

Another case of polio was reported in Balochistan on Saturday, taking the total number of cases detected across the country this year so far to 48.

The victim has been identified as a five-month-old boy from Qilla Abdullah, according to the health department. His parents hadn?t allowed polio teams from administering the vaccine to him.

Four cases have so far been reported in Balochistan, two from Qilla Abdullah and one each Quetta and Jaffarabad...

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Source: http://www.newindianexpress.com/worl...d-2015525.html


Polio cases on the rise in Pakistan, five more victims confirmed
Local Pakistan authorities have blamed the rise in polio cases on parents who refused to get their children vaccinated.
Published: 07th August 2019 04:00 PM | Last Updated: 07th August 2019 04:00 PM
By ANI

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has seen a drastic surge in polio cases this year, with five more children being affected with the virus in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Local authorities have blamed the rise in polio cases on parents who refused to get their children vaccinated. This has increased after students in Peshawar's Mashokhel were rushed to the hospital with complaints about a drug reaction during a polio campaign in April this year.

"It has been learnt that none of them was vaccinated during polio campaigns and routine immunisation. Unfortunately, since the incident of Peshawar (in April), we have been facing severe resistance from parents. They have kept markers at their houses and manage to avoid vaccination by marking the fingers of their children on the very first day of polio campaign," the Pakistani Prime Minister's Focal Person on Polio Eradication, Babar Bin Atta told The News International.

There is a sharp increase in the polio cases confirmed in Pakistan this year as compared to the figures in 2018 and 2017. While 53 cases have been confirmed in the South Asian country until now, only 12 and eight cases were confirmed in 2018 and 2017 respectively...

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Source: https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/51...de-count-to-58

Two more cases of polio emerge in Sindh, taking country-wide count to 58
M Waqar Bhatti
August 25, 2019

KARACHI: The Emergency Operation Centre for Polio in Sindh has announced that two polio cases have been reported from the province, both from the city of Hyderabad which takes the total count for Sindh in 2019 to five.

Out of these five cases, two are from Karachi, one from Larkana and two from Hyderabad. The total case count in the country is now 58.

An official of the EOC Sindh Sunday said the dreaded polio virus has effected two children in Hyderabad, including a baby girl of 12 months of age who is a resident of Quetta town in District Hyderabad.

According to her mother, the child Memoona Habibullah had a history of vomiting and diarrhea since days.

On July 20, the parents noticed weakness in both lower limbs that worsened to an extent that child was not able to stand.

On July 23 during case response in Hyderabad, a polio team notified the child with both of the lower limbs effected as an AFP case.

It may be noted that the child had received no routine immunization and was low on immunity.

The other case that came afloat was of a resident of Chungi Lal, District Hyderabad...

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Source: https://www.urdupoint.com/en/pakista...ro-697293.html

5 New Polio Cases Confirmed In Country, 3 From KP: NEOC
Zeeshan Aziz (@imziishan) 2 minutes ago Sun 25th August 2019 | 08:20 PM

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th Aug, 2019 ) :The National Emergence Operation Centre (NEOC) on Polio Sunday confirmed five new polio cases across the country, including three from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

According to an NEOC official, one each case was reported from Bannu, Waziristan and Hangu in KP, and two from Hyderabad, Sindh.

He said with addition of five new cases, the figure of confirmed polio cases reached 58 for the current year, out of which 44 were from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, including 32 from Bannu division.

The official said the polio virus situation in the KP was alarming and the government had planned to start polio immunization drive in 26 districts of the province from Monday.

He said the cause behind having polio virus in Bannu was refusal of polio vaccination to their children by parents. After confirmation of polio virus, the parents accepted that they had refused the vaccination for their children on wrong propaganda, he added.

The official said the extensive environmental surveillance established by the Pakistan Polio Eradication Programme had detected the poliovirus from sewage of 10 cities during last month...

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Source: https://arynews.tv/en/two-more-polio...alochistan-kp/


Two more polio cases reported in Balochistan, KP
Web Desk On Sep 4, 2019 Last updated Sep 4, 2019
polio

ISLAMABAD: Two more cases of polio have been reported from Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), ARY News reported on Wednesday.

According to the health department, with the latest inclusion of two more cases of this crippling disease, the number has jumped to 60, this year.

A seventeen-month-old kid was found affected by polio in Qila Abdullah, Balochistan, said the health department officials and added that parents had refused to administer their child anti-polio drops during the drive.

The second case was reported in Lakhi Marwat, where a five months old girl was diagnosed with polio...

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Source: https://www.dawn.com/news/1507919/ta...cases-reported

Tally rises to 69 as three more polio cases reported
Hasan Mansoor | Ikram JunaidiUpdated September 29, 2019

ISLAMABAD / KARACHI: Three more cases of polio have been reported in the country — two in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and one in Sindh — taking the total number of such cases to 69.

An official at the Polio Virology Laboratory of the National Institute of Health (NIH) said on Saturday the cases of Khyber Pakhtun?khwa were reported in Lakki Marwat and Bannu. The case of Sindh was reported in Jamshoro.

He said that in Lakki Marwat district an 18-month-old girl had been paralysed due to the virus. The girl lives in the Zindhe Falak Sher village, in Serai Naurang tehsil.

During investigations it was revealed that she had never been administered polio drops, the official added.

The victim from Bannu — a two-year-old girl hailing from the Zalol Khel village of Wazir tehsil — had been vaccinated against the crippling disease just once...

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Source: https://dailytimes.com.pk/479285/thr...ly-reaches-72/

Three more polio cases surface as tally reaches 72
Agencies
October 6, 2019

Eradication of polio virus in the country seems a distant dream as three more polio cases surfaced on Saturday, taking the tally to 72 this year country.

One case has been reported from Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa each.

A 17-month old child, resident of Orangi Town’s Union Council (UC-2), was diagnosed with the crippling disease.

She is the eighth polio victim in Sindh, according to the Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) for Polio. The total number of crippling disease cases in the city has reached four...

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Source: https://www.dawn.com/news/1511946/2-...o-76-this-year

2 new polio cases in Lakki Marwat, 1 in Harnai bring total to 76 this year
Sirajuddin Updated October 20, 2019

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Lakki Marwat district on Sunday reported two new cases of polio and Balochistan's Harnai district reported one, bringing the country's total this year to 76.

The two victims from Lakki Marwat — a seven-year-old girl and a 21-month-old boy — are residents of the Sarai Naurang tehsil, a report released by the Emergency Operation Centre said.

According to the EOC, both affected children had not been administered the polio vaccine.

Examine | Polio: What's behind the refusals?

The presence of a polio virus in their systems was confirmed via a stool test. The total number of cases across the province now number 56...

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Source: https://arynews.tv/en/another-polio-case-emerges-sindh/

Another polio case emerges in Sindh, tally up to 80
Web Desk On Oct 30, 2019

KARACHI: Eradication of poliovirus in the country seems a distant dream as another polio case surfaced on Wednesday, taking the tally of such cases across the country to 80 this year, ARY News reported.

According to the Health Ministry, the polio case was reported from the Sujawal area of Sindh.

A 36-month old child Aman, resident of Sujawal, was diagnosed with the crippling disease. The authorities said the minor was not vaccinated against the virus...

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Source: https://dunyanews.tv/en/Pakistan/517...es-reported-KP
Two more polio cases reported in KP
Last Updated On 08 November,2019 06:22 pm
The total number of polio cases has risen to 82 throughout the country.

PESHAWAR (Dunya News) - Two more polio cases have been reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after which the number of polio cases in the province has increased to 61.

According to the Emergency Operations Center (EOC), two children from Sarai Norang Tehsil in Lakki Marwat district were diagnosed with the poliovirus.

In a comment on reporting of new polio cases, Coordinator EOC KP Abdul Basit said that it was a matter of grave concern and indeed a sad day that two more children are left disabled by polio virus, says a press release here on Friday...

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Source: http://investrecords.com/2019/11/08/...rrect-article/



‘Absolutely no cover-up’: Govt officials denounce The Guardian for ‘incorrect’ article
November 8, 2019 admin

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Zafar Mirza and the prime minister’s former focal person on polio on Friday denounced a report published by British daily The Guardian, in which the publication had accused Pakistani officials of “covering up” a polio outbreak.

The report in question, published in The Guardian on November 7, accused Pakistani officials of “covering up an outbreak of the most dangerous strain of polio and planning a covert vaccination programme to contain the disease”.

According to The Guardian, an outbreak of the P2 strain of the virus was allegedly kept hidden from the government as well as international health bodies and donors “on the orders of Babar bin Atta”, who was the prime minister’s focal person for polio eradication until he resigned last month.

“[In order to] hide their negligence and their poor performance, Babar Bin Atta decided not disclose the cases to anyone,” The Guardian quoted an unnamed source as saying. The report further said that the virus was believed to have reemerged because the vaccine to prevent its spread was misused.

“Somewhere, somebody has inaccurately used this vaccine and because of this negligence […] this virus was brought back into the environment and our children are again getting infected with P2,” the report quoted the source as saying.

Pakistani officials rushed to correct the record today. “[There has been] absolutely no cover up,” Dr Mirza responded to the story in a tweet earlier today.

Talking to Dawn earlier, Dr Mirza had said that seven new cases of the vaccine-derived poliovirus Type 2 had been detected in the country...

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Source: https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/201...d-in-kp-sindh/

Six more polio cases reported in KP, Sindh
by News Desk , (Last Updated 2 hours ago)

Six new cases of polio have been reported in Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, taking the tally to 95 across Pakistan.

Of the total number of cases reported so far, nine are of vaccine-derived virus type 2 or VDPV2.

Two of the six new cases are of polio contracted from a mutated version of the virus in the environment. They were reported from Charsadda and Torghar.

Three of the remaining cases are from Lakki Marwat, while one is from Karachi...

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Source: https://www.who.int/csr/don/28-novem...o-pakistan/en/
Circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 – Pakistan

Disease outbreak news
28 November 2019

Through national disease surveillance, an outbreak of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type-2 (cVDPV2) has been confirmed in Pakistan in 2019. Between 7 July and 3 November 2019, 11 children have been paralysed from cVDPV2 in Pakistan – four in Diamir district, Gilgit-Baltistan province, three in Kohistan, two in Torghar and one in Charsadda, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, and one in Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad. The median age for these cases was 22 months ranging from 8 to 66 months .
The virus was also isolated in stool samples from two contacts of one patient from Diamir, one contact of one patient from Torghar, as well as from 16 healthy children from Diamir, Kohistan and Rawalpindi districts. In addition, the virus was also isolated in seven environmental samples collected between 21 August and 25 October 2019 in Rawalpindi and Lahore districts, Punjab province; Diamir and Gilgit districts, Gilgit-Baltistan province; and Site Town, district West, Karachi, Sindh province.
The genetic sequencing confirmed that the VDPV2 isolated in the environmental samples collected at the Safdarabad site in Rawalpindi district in August was linked to a virus isolated in Diamir environmental samples collected in August and September. This is the indication of a circulating VDPV2 outbreak.
All VDPV2 strains were isolated in the WHO Regional Reference Laboratory for Polioviruses (RRL), National Institute of Health in Pakistan and had a full viral genomic sequencing in the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The VDPV2 isolates from acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) cases, contacts, and environmental samples have undergone 6 to 13 nucleotide changes reflecting a recent emergence of cVDPV2.
Pakistan is classified as endemic for wild poliovirus, and as of 13 November, there have been 86 cases of wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) reported in the country in 2019 compared to 12 cases in 2018.
The last VDPV2 case in Pakistan was reported from Quetta city, Balochistan province in December 2016 and was classified as a cVDPV2. Response campaigns were conducted with monovalent oral poliovirus type 2 (mOPV2) where 2.96 million doses were administered. The last response campaign was in March 2017 and this was the last time mOPV2 was used in Pakistan. In the country, inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV) was introduced in September 2015 and its reported coverage was suboptimal ranging from 20% in 2015 to 75% in 2018.
Figure 1. Map showing areas affected




Enlarge image
Public health response

The outbreak response and detailed field investigations are ongoing to understand both the source of the virus and the extent of transmission. Active surveillance for AFP is being strengthened and environmental surveillance is being intensified and expanded; subnational population immunity levels are being assessed. These investigations have drawn on the experience and capacity of the international poliovirus laboratory network and global experts.
While investigations continue, an inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) campaign was conducted in September 2019 targeting more than 180,000 children between the age of 4-59 months to rapidly increase population immunity . The Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) has supported the Ministry of Health (MoH) to implement a vaccination campaign with mOPV2 that commenced on 13 November 2019 in 11 districts of northern Pakistan (Haripur, Abbotabad, Mansehra, Battagram, Shangla, Torghar, Kohistan, Charsadda, Mohmand, Diamir, Gilgit), as well as in the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad targeting 2.7 million children under-5 years of age. In affected areas and identified high-risk areas, it is critical to respond robustly and rapidly to outbreaks.
WHO risk assessment

WHO’s assessment is that the risk of spread of cVDPV2 within the country as high due to the high population movement, strong connectivity across the country, and low population immunity against type 2 poliovirus. The detection of this cVDPV2 strain underscores the importance of maintaining high levels of routine polio vaccination coverage at all levels to minimize the risk and consequences of any poliovirus circulation. WHO stands ready to support the ongoing investigation and risk assessment by national health authorities.
WHO advice

It is important that all countries, in particular, those with frequent travel and contacts within polio-affected countries and areas, strengthen surveillance for AFP cases in order to rapidly detect any new virus importation and to facilitate a rapid response. Countries, territories and areas should also maintain uniformly high routine immunization coverage at the district level to minimize the consequences of any new virus introduction.
WHO’s International Travel and Health recommends that all travellers to polio-affected areas be fully vaccinated against polio. Residents (and visitors for more than 4 weeks) from infected areas should receive an additional dose of OPV or inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) within 4 weeks to 12 months of travel.
As per the advice of an Emergency Committee convened under the International Health Regulations (2005), efforts to limit the international spread of poliovirus remains a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). Countries affected by poliovirus transmission is subject to Temporary Recommendations. To comply with the Temporary Recommendations issued under the PHEIC, any country infected by poliovirus should declare the outbreak as a national public health emergency and consider vaccination of all international travellers.
For more information:

• Global Polio Eradication Initiative
• Polio Factsheet
• WHO/UNICEF estimates of national routine immunization
• GPEI Public health emergency status
• International travel and health
• Vaccine-derived polioviruses
• Global Polio Eradication Initiative Polio free countries
• Global Polio Eradication Initiative – Pakistan
• Pakistan Polio eradication programme
• Standard operating procedures - responding to a poliovirus event or outbreak

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Source: https://www.samaa.tv/living/health/2...ase-this-year/

Sindh reports its 14th polio case this year
Samaa Digital
5 hours ago

The number of polio cases reported in Sindh this year has gone up to 14 as the Emergency Operation Centre for Polio has confirmed a new case.

A nine-month-old boy, identified as Hasnain from Larkana, has contracted polio. According to EOC officials, the polio case surfaced in Larkana’s UC Karani on November 9...

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Source: https://www.siasat.com/polio-cases-p...-year-1752198/


Polio cases in Pakistan rise to 94 this year
Posted by Neha Published: December 05, 2019, 4:42 pm IST

Islamabad: The total number of polio virus cases detected in Pakistan has increased to 94, with three new ones reported from Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, a health official said on Thursday.

An official of Polio Virology Laboratory at the National Institute of Health (NIH) told Dawn news that the new cases were reported from Larkana in Sindh’ and from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Dera Ismail Khan and Lakki Marwat districts.

According to the official, two of the three affected children had been given polio vaccine.

So far, 68 cases have been reported from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 14 from Sindh, seven from Balochistan and five from Punjab...