PESHAWAR:
After infecting China, Egypt, Palestine and Syria, the Pakistan
poliovirus now threatens Turkey and parts of Europe as the ban on
anti-polio campaign in parts of the tribal areas continues to deprive
thousands of children of vaccination against the crippling disease.
The
situation also mocks the authorities of the polio programme, who tried
their level best to eradicate polio from Pakistan. After confirmation
from the WHO and Unicef that the poliovirus that infected 13 children in
Syria belonged to Pakistan, scientists in Europe have now put the
Republic of Turkey in a state of high alert, fearing that the massive
refugee movement into the country from Syria may transmit the
poliovirus.
Dr Martin Eichner from the University of Tubingen and
Stefan Brockmann of Germany’s Reutlingen Regional Public Health Office
in their joint article published in the globally famous Lancet Medical
Journal said that most European countries administer anti-polio vaccine
at the time of birth, rather than giving anti-polio drops repeatedly.
“Since
a large number of refugees are fleeing Syria and seeking refuge in
neighbouring countries and Europe, there is now a chance the virus could
be carried to the areas that have been polio-free for decades,” he
said.
A health expert requesting anonymity said the social sector
minister of Syria had been claiming that the virus was transmitted from
Pakistan’s militancy-affected Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata)
into his country as he intended to prove the foreign militants’
involvement in Syria’s uprising.
“According to our research, the
virus that has been detected in Syria was the same that was traced in
Egypt and it has been transmitted from Egypt to Syria and has nothing to
do with Fata rebels,” explained an official of the WHO.
Pleading
anonymity, he said Pakistan may be singled out for international travel
restrictions if steps were not taken to stop the transmission of
poliovirus from the country.
“The mistrust of parents in the
anti-polio drive and increasing number of refusals by parents is the
biggest challenge for the anti-polio drive in the country,” a WHO
official said.
He revealed that Pakistan recorded a huge number
of 65,000 families that refused administering polio vaccines to their
children during the recentlyconcluded polio campaign. By recording 62
polio cases this year, Pakistan has already crossed last year’s polio
case count of 58.
The experts believe that the country was on
track to report over 70 polio cases during the current year. The Fata
region remains the frontrunner in reporting polio cases as 43 children
have been paralysed in the region. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has reported nine
polio cases, Punjab six whereas Sindh has reported four cases during the
current year.
In South and North Waziristan tribal regions, where
the government signed peace accords with militant groups, the Taliban
banned polio immunization two years ago as a mark of protest against US
drone strikes.
The government and health department authorities
have been unable to vaccinate the children from Fata against the
crippling disease. A fake anti-polio campaign conducted by a Pakistani
physician Dr Shakil Afridi in May 2011 in Abbottabad to collect DNA
samples of Osama bin Laden, which reportedly helped the CIA track him
down, has caused irreversible loss to the immunization campaign in
Pakistan.
Many people suspect polio vaccination to be an attempt
by the government and foreign-funded organizations to make male children
infertile.