90 percent of polio cases linked to Peshawar: WHO

Islamabad: With over 90 percent of Pakistan’s polio cases genetically linked to Peshawar, the World Health Organization on Friday described the northwestern city as the world’s “largest reservoir” of endemic polio virus.
Pakistan was the only polio-endemic country where cases of the crippling disease increased last year. Nigeria and Afghanistan are the only other countries where polio is endemic.

During the last four years, samples of sewage water from across Pakistan were tested for the presence of polio virus.

A total of 86 samples were collected from different locations of Peshawar in this period, and 72 samples showed the presence of highly contagious and paralytic wild polio virus strain.

All samples of sewage water collected during the past six months from parts of Peshawar showed the presence of the highly contagious virus.

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, of which Peshawar is the capital, and adjoining tribal districts are polio hotspots.

An explosive polio outbreak in the tribal areas, which left 65 children paralysed last year, was sustained by Peshawar.
WHO recommended that repeated, high-quality vaccination campaigns and strong monitoring should be organized in Peshawar to stop polio transmission and protect children.

The anti-polio campaign hit a wall in June 2012, when the Pakistani Taliban banned vaccinations in parts of the lawless tribal belt, saying the restriction would last till US drone strikes cease.

Militants and gunmen frequently attack vaccination teams, accusing them of being Western spies and part of a plot to “sterilize” Muslims.