Polio

Pakistan's week-long polio eradication campaign begins amid tight security

A week-long polio eradication campaign across Pakistan began on Monday amid tight security to ensure its smooth sailing against the crippling disease that saw a surge this year with 63 cases reported so far. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), Pakistan and Afghanistan remain the only countries where the paralysing virus is still rampant. During the campaign, more than 44.7 million children under the age of five will be vaccinated. The campaign has started across 143 districts of the country to prevent the resurgence of the polio virus. A target has been set to vaccinate 23.3 million children in Punjab's 36 districts, 7.2 million in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's 36 districts, 10.6 million in Sindh's 30 districts and 2.6 million in Balochistan's 36 districts. Additionally, more than 800,000 children will be vaccinated in Islamabad, Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and five districts of Gilgit-Baltistan. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province alone, 54,000 security personnel, including police

Trump nominees should 'steer clear' of undermining polio vaccine: McConnell

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, a childhood polio survivor, said any of President-elect Donald Trump's nominees seeking confirmation should steer clear of efforts to discredit the polio vaccine. Efforts to undermine public confidence in proven cures are not just uninformed they're dangerous, McConnell said in a Friday statement. Anyone seeking the Senate's consent to serve in the incoming Administration would do well to steer clear of even the appearance of association with such efforts. The 82-year-old lawmaker's statement appeared to be directed at Trump's nominee for health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., after a report that one of his advisors filed a petition to revoke approval for the polio vaccine in 2022. It was a sign that Kennedy, who has long advanced the debunked idea that vaccines cause autism, could face resistance in the soon-to-be GOP-controlled Senate. Mr. Kennedy believes the Polio Vaccine should be available to the public and thoroughly and properly .

Pakistan reports four new cases of polio, year's tally rises to 63

Pakistan has reported four new polio cases, bringing the crippling disease's total in the country for the year to 63 more than a ten-fold increase from last year's tally of just 6 cases. Despite repeated countrywide polio vaccination campaigns, two new cases were detected on Friday in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh provinces each, the Dawn newspaper reported, citing a statement from the National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC). On Friday, December 13, the lab confirmed one polio case each from Dera Ismail Khan, Tank, and Jacobabad, where female children are affected, and Sukkur, where a male child is affected, the statement said. "This is the ninth polio case from Dera Ismail Khan, third from Tank and Jacobabad and first from Sukkur this year, it said. Of the 63 cases reported in the country so far this year, 26 were from Balochistan, 18 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 17 from Sindh and one each from Punjab and Islamabad. Last year, Pakistan reported six polio cases, a sharp declin

Poland urges polio vaccination after virus detected in Warsaw sewage

Poland's health authorities on Monday urged polio vaccinations for children after the virus was detected in Warsaw's sewage during regular tests this month. The state Main Sanitary Inspectorate in a statement said the presence of the virus does not necessarily mean people have been sick, but those who have not been vaccinated against polio could be at risk. The vaccinations are free in Poland for people under 19. New measures also include more intensive testing of Warsaw's sewage, renewing the vaccination stocks and updating the list of children still unvaccinated. Polio is most often spread by contact with waste from an infected person or, less frequently, through contaminated water or food. The polio virus mostly affects children under 5. Most people infected don't have symptoms, but in severe cases, polio can invade the nervous system and cause paralysis within hours, according to the World Health Organisation. It estimates that 1 in 200 polio cases results in permanent paralysis

Pakistan reports 2 new polio cases, total tally rises to 45 this year

The number of polio cases in Pakistan this year has risen to 45 after two fresh cases were detected in the country's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, authorities said on Saturday. The latest cases surfaced in the Lakki Marwat and Dera Ismail Khan provinces, Geo News reported, quoting the National Emergency Operations Centre. The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health confirmed the cases as those of wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1). This marks the second polio case this year from both districts, where environmental samples tested positive for WPV1, highlighting a high risk of virus transmission in the region. According to The Express Tribune newspaper, WPV1 has been detected in 76 districts from all four provinces of the county, indicating the virus' widespread circulation. The detection of new cases has jolted Pakistan's efforts to curb the spread of the crippling disease, for which a nationwide eradication programme is ongoing. The week-

Polio vaccination campaign set to resume in northern Gaza: WHO-UNICEF

Around 15,000 children under the age of ten years in the towns of North Gaza like Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun remain inaccessible and will be missed during the campaign

Yet another polio case in Pakistan pushes tally well over 43 in 2024

Pakistan's fight against poliovirus remained a tough case as yet another case of the crippling disease surfaced on Wednesday, taking the national tally of the year to 43. The new victim was reported from Chagai district of Balochistan, according to the Pakistan Polio Eradication Programme. The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health has confirmed the detection of the 43rd Wild Poliovirus Type-1 (WPV1) case in Pakistan, the statement said. It was the first polio case from Chagai, a remote district bordering Afghanistan, which is only the second country apart from Pakistan where polio remains endemic. The new case was found just days after Pakistan on Monday launched a week-long vaccination campaign with an aim of immunising more than 45 million children under the age of five. So far, 22 cases have been reported from Balochistan, 12 from Sindh, seven from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.

Polio vaccinators attacked, held hostage in 2 separate incidents in Pak

Three terrorists were killed in a gunbattle when they attacked a polio vaccinators' team in Pakistan's restive northwestern province Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Tuesday. In another incident, unknown militants took hostage the entire team of polio vaccinators at a dispensary in the same province, sources said here. The attack on polio vaccinators came a day after Pakistan on Monday started its third nationwide polio campaign to vaccinate 45 million children. In the first incident in Aurakzai tribal district, bordering Afghanistan, a policeman also killed in the shootout while frustrating the attack on the polio vaccinators. At least three terrorists were mowed down by the police in the fierce gunbattle and a fresh team has been rushed to the site, sources added. No group claimed responsibility for the brutal attack. In the second incident in North Waziristan's tehsil Shewa, unidentified militants took hostage the entire team of polio vaccinators at the Mamet Kot dispensary in the restiv

Pak starts new polio vaccination drive as virus detected in 16 districts

Pakistan on Monday started its third nationwide polio campaign to vaccinate 45 million children against the crippling disease as the virus was detected in the environmental samples from 16 districts. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif inaugurated the campaign during a ceremony at the Prime Minister's House on World Polio Day last week, the Dawn newspaper reported. He also administered polio drops to children there. The week-long vaccination campaign, which will run till November 3, aims to tackle the alarming spread of polio in the country, which has reported 41 cases this year. During the drive, special teams of health departments will go door to door to inoculate more than 45 million children. Children will also be given Vitamin-A supplements during the campaign for additional immunity, according to the report. The launch coincided with the Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health confirming the detection of wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1)

Polio 'gasping' on verge of eradication from world map, says expert

Despite the complexities of poliovirus that make it difficult to stop from spreading, an expert on Thursday said that the disease is gasping and is on the verge of eradication from the global map. Heaping praise on India for playing an exemplary role in effectively dealing with polio, researcher Dr Ananda Sankar Bandyopadhyay sounded caution that any complacency could help the disease make a comeback. Bandyopadhyay, who is the Deputy Director of Technology, Research, and Analytics, Polio Team, with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, was speaking exclusively to PTI on the occasion of World Polio Day on Thursday. Polio has three serotypes -- type 1, type 2 and type 3. Type 2 and 3 were eradicated from the world. Poliovirus type 1 remains mainly in two countries - Pakistan and Afghanistan. So, about the global situation, we can say that polio is on the verge of eradication," he said. Besides Pakistan and Afghanistan, there are about 15 countries primarily in the African region whe

Pakistan logs 40th polio case in 2024: Why it fails to curb this endemic?

An infectious disease, Polio can cause crippling paralysis among young children. It has been virtually eradicated from the world, except for Pakistan and Afghanistan

Polio resurgence in Pakistan: Over 1 million children missed vaccines

Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only countries where polio remains endemic, according to the World Health Organization (WHO)

Pakistan reports two new polio cases, total tally rises to 39 this year

Pakistan has reported 39 polio cases this year, with two fresh cases of the crippling disease being detected in the Sindh province, authorities said on Sunday. The latest cases were confirmed on Saturday in the Sanghar and Mirpurkhas districts of the province, the Dawn newspaper reported. These come after four cases were reported a day earlier, jolting the country's efforts to eradicate the poliovirus. According to the Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication in Islamabad, the newest victims are a girl and a boy. These are the first polio cases from Mirpurkhas and Sanghar this year, the report quoted an official as saying. The prevalence of the virus had already been confirmed in the two neighbouring districts following multiple environmental samples testing positive for WPV1 since April, the official added. In ten months of the year, Pakistan has reported 39 cases of poliovirus, of which 20 were reported from Balochistan, 12 from Sindh, five from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, an

Taliban suspends polio vaccination campaigns in Afghanistan, says UN

The Taliban have suspended polio vaccination campaigns in Afghanistan, the U.N. said Monday. Afghanistan is one of two countries in which the spread of the potentially fatal, paralyzing disease has never been stopped. The other is Pakistan. News of the suspension was relayed to U.N. agencies right before the September immunization campaign was due to start. No reason was given for the suspension, and no one from the Taliban-controlled government was immediately available for comment. A top official from the World Health Organization said it was aware of discussions to move away from house-to-house vaccinations and instead have immunizations in places like mosques. The WHO has confirmed 18 polio cases in Afghanistan this year, all but two in the south of the country. That's up from six cases in 2023. The Global Polio Eradication Initiative is aware of the recent policy discussions on shifting from house-to-house polio vaccination campaigns to site-to-site vaccination in parts of ..

Militants kill policeman in another attack on polio workers in Pakistan

Unknown gunmen killed a policeman on security duty with polio vaccinators in Pakistan's restive northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Thursday in a second attack within 24 hours and the third one since Monday. The gunmen on motorbikes opened fire at the team of polio workers killing constable Noor Alam in Domel police station jurisdiction in Bannu district bordering Afghanistan, police said here. The assailants escaped after the attack. An angry mob put the body of the slain cop in front of the police lines to protest the rising trend of targeted killings of policemen on duty with polio teams in southern districts of the province. On Wednesday, police constable Alam Khan and a polio worker were killed after unidentified gunmen ambushed a team of polio vaccinators in Salarzai tehsil of Bajaur district. No one immediately claimed responsibility for Wednesday's attack. Militants frequently target the polio workers in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Meanwhile, in Lakki Marwat .

6 injured in explosion targeting polio workers in Pak's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

At least six people, including three policemen, were injured in a bomb explosion that targeted a vehicle carrying workers associated with the Pakistan Polio Programme in the country's restive northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, authorities said on Monday. The explosion resulted in injuries to three frontline polio workers and three policemen in South Waziristan district's Wana town. The injured were immediately shifted to a hospital and their condition is stated to be stable. Police contingents rushed to the explosion site and launched a combing operation to arrest the accused. Authorities in Pakistan last week reported its first polio case in the capital Islamabad in the last 16 years, a setback to the national efforts aimed at eradicating the crippling virus from the country. The country came close to achieving zero poliovirus cases in 2021 when only one infection was reported. So far this year, 12 cases have been reported from Balochistan, three from Sindh, and one from .

Amid polio vaccination drive Israeli strikes in Gaza kill more than dozen

Israeli air raids in the Gaza Strip killed more than a dozen people overnight into Saturday, hospital and local authorities said, as health workers wrapped up the second phase of an urgent polio vaccination campaign designed to prevent a large-scale outbreak. The vaccination drive was launched after health officials confirmed the first polio case in the Palestinian enclave in 25 years, in a 10-month-old boy whose leg is now paralyzed. The nine-day campaign by the UN health agency and partners aims to vaccinate 640,000 children, an ambitious effort during a war that has destroyed Gaza's health care system and much of its infrastructure. The third phase of vaccinations is in the north. Israel, meanwhile, kept up its military offensive. In central Gaza's urban refugee camp of Nuseirat, Al-Awda Hospital said it received the bodies of nine people killed in two separate air raids. One hit a residential building, killing four people and wounding at least 10, while five people were killed in

161,000 children vaccinated against polio in Gaza in 2 days, says WHO

The WHO official confirmed that vaccination teams faced larger numbers of residents in Al-Maghazi, Al-Bureij and Al-Masdar

Large-scale polio vaccinations begin in Gaza after first case in 25 years

Palestinian health authorities and United Nations agencies on Sunday began a large-scale campaign of vaccinations against polio in the Gaza Strip, hoping to prevent an outbreak in the territory that has been ravaged by the Israel-Hamas war. Authorities plan to vaccinate children in central Gaza until Wednesday before moving on to the more devastated northern and southern parts of the strip. The campaign began with a small number of vaccinations on Saturday and aims to reach about 640,000 children. The World Health Organisation has said Israel agreed to limited pauses in the fighting to facilitate the campaign. There were initial reports of Israeli strikes in central Gaza early Sunday, but it was not immediately known if anyone was killed or wounded. The pause ended Sunday afternoon, according to a schedule released by Israel. Hospitals in Deir al-Balah and Nuseirat confirmed that the campaign had begun. Israel has said the vaccination program will continue through Sept. 9 and last .

Polio vaccine campaign begins in Gaza day before fight expected to pause

A campaign to inoculate children in Gaza against polio and prevent the spread of the virus has begun, the Health Ministry has said, as Palestinians in the Hamas-governed enclave and the occupied West Bank reeled from Israel's military offensives. Meanwhile, Israel's military late Saturday in a terse announcement said it had located a number of bodies during combat in Gaza. The army was trying to identify the bodies, including whether they were hostages, but said the process would take several hours. We ask to refrain from spreading rumors, it said. There were no further details. A small number of children in Gaza received vaccine doses on Saturday, a day before the large-scale rollout and planned pause in fighting agreed to by Israel and the UN World Health Organisation. There must be a cease-fire so that the teams can reach everyone targeted by this campaign, said Dr Yousef Abu Al-Rish, Gaza's deputy health minister, describing scenes of sewage running through crowded tent camps. .