Sindh’s fourth polio case confirmed

http://www.dawn.com/2008/04/29/top10.htm

By Mukhtar Alam

KARACHI, April 28: An 11-year-old girl in Karachi tested positive for polio on Monday, bringing to four the number of cases detected this year in the country — all from Sindh.

The tally of polio cases over the past six months has now reached 18.

One case was reported in Punjab in September last year, four in the NWFP, two in Balochistan and one in Fata, all in December. The earlier three cases of polio in Sindh were detected in Hyderabad, Nawabshah and Sukkur.

Of the 32 polio cases detected last year, 12 were from Sindh.

Officials claimed that the virus was brought to Karachi from other parts of the country as well as from Afghanistan.

In the latest case detected in North Karachi, the onset of paralysis in the girl was reported in the first week of April. The girl suffered from asymmetric paralysis and rapid progression of the disease. She used to receive three doses of polio vaccine in routine and five doses during the special immunisation campaigns against polio.

Dr H.B. Memon, national manager of the Expanded Programme on Immunisation, told Dawn that the detection of four cases this year reflected poor vaccination management in Sindh. “This could be attributed to rapid and unchecked influx into Sindh, uncertainty and a sense of instability among field workers because of frequent transfers and postings of key health officials.”

He said the EPI had already requested the federal health ministry to link vaccination cards of children up to five years with the issuance of national registration form (B), compulsory production of vaccination cards at the time of admission of children in schools and penalisation of parents failing to get their children vaccinated against preventable diseases.

In Karachi, each polio immunisation campaign covers about 2,245,243 children. Its operational cost is estimated at about Rs7.3 million. Additional expenses include Rs500,000 for orientation of over 6,000 teams, Rs1 million for social mobilisation and Rs1 million for mobility support.

isn't it amazing how the EPI official (criminal) is deriving such a faulty conclusion/diagnosis. The girl had been given the Polio vaccines multiple times. The Polio vaccine is a Live Vaccine. (means that it actually contains the virus, however weakened, and according to stats from US, is the number one cause of Polio in the US)

the solution that this EPI official proposes for this is MORE VACCINATIONS... !! good heavens.. even now, if we can't figure it out then .. God help us..

isn't it amazing how the EPI official (criminal) is deriving such a faulty conclusion/diagnosis. The girl had been given the Polio vaccines multiple times. The Polio vaccine is a Live Vaccine. (means that it actually contains the virus, however weakened, and according to stats from US, is the number one cause of Polio in the US)

the solution that this EPI official proposes for this is MORE VACCINATIONS... !! good heavens.. even now, if we can't figure it out then .. God help us..

what vaccin is,,, all vaccines contain very minute quantity of virus to immune system with it

I agree with tihami that one could figure out the ratio of polio cases before and after vaccination . no system could never be ideal or 100%, so 1,2 cases from millions doesn't mean that vaccines are flopped. The case could be due to certain reasons, as in pakistan they used to use large bottle for multiple vaccination,,,, so there is a chance that either the vaccin was miss-handled or may be expired (who is going to verify the expiray date in a village) or like that any other reason

LIVE POLIO VACCINE VOTED OUT

LIVE POLIO VACCINE VOTED OUT - At a June 20, 1996 meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) of the Centers for Disease Control, members of the federal vaccine policymaking panel voted to move away from use of the live oral polio vaccine (OPV) and toward increased use of the injectable inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) in order to cut down on the number of cases of polio disease caused by OPV in the U.S. each year. Although this action may reduce the number of vaccine associated polio cases in children and adults who swallow live OPV, it will have little effect on the cases of vaccine associated polio that occur in children and adults who get polio by coming into contact with the body fluids of a person who has recently swallowed live OPV. On September 18, 1996, Dr. David Satcher, Director of the CDC accepted the recommendation.

Historic Policy Change - ACIP's vote marked an historic change in America's 32-year old policy of vaccinating all babies with four to five doses of live OPV, the vaccine which has been credited by health officials with eliminating wild polio disease from the western hemisphere but, today, is the only cause of polio in America. Because IPV is not "live" and is reputed to be incapable of giving vaccine recipients or close contacts polio, ACIP maintains that two doses of IPV will provide babies with polio antibodies without the risk of getting the disease and that babies will also be protected from getting polio from future doses of live OPV. However, ACIP also stated that an all-OPV or all-IPV schedule is also acceptable.

Moms Can Still Get Polio - Many parents of OPV damaged children, OPV damaged adults, as well as survivors of wild polio epidemics in the 1940's and 50's are not satisfied with ACIP's new recommendations. Like Lenita Shaefer, who got "contact" polio from her OPV vaccinated daughter in 1988, they want the live polio vaccine taken off the market and only IPV used in America. They maintain that ACIP's policy change will not prevent parents, babysitters or other children without antibodies to polio from getting polio after coming into close contact with a recently OPV-vaccinated child whose body fluids and waste products can "shed" the live polio virus for weeks following vaccination. Lenita told scientists at a 1995 Institute of Medicine Vaccine Safety Workshop that "No one had the right to immunize me without my consent. Now I am paralyzed for life for something I never agreed to receive. Immunization without consent invades my right of privacy as protected by the constitution. This insult is worsened by the fact that the only polio in this country since 1979 has been caused by the oral vaccine and most of the cases are contact polio like the one I have."

Parents Make Pleas - John Salamone, whose six year old son, David, got polio when he was just a few months old from an OPV vaccination, has spearheaded a public campaign to replace OPV with IPV to prevent vaccine associated polio. John told the panel that "It has been more than 15 years since a case of naturally occurring polio has been found in the U.S.; yet we can fill this room with Americans who have contracted polio from the oral vaccine since then.... In 1996, can we honestly look into the faces of parents whose children will contract vaccine-related polio this year and say we did our best?" Standing by her four year old OPV damaged son, Gordon, who sat paralyzed in a wheelchair on a respirator, Susan Pierson told the panel "Little did we know how our actions for our son would have the exact opposite effect. We thought we were doing what was in Gordon's best interest."

OPV was banned in the US in 1996, not only because it caused so many polio cases in those who were vaccinated but it also caused the mothers of the accinated children to acquire the disease.

These recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) for poliomyelitis prevention replace those issued in 1997. As of January 1, 2000, ACIP recommends exclusive use of inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV) for routine childhood polio vaccination in the United States. All children should receive four doses of IPV at ages 2, 4, and 6--18 months and 4--6 years. Oral poliovirus vaccine (OPV) should be used only in certain circumstances, which are detailed in these recommendations. Since 1979, the only indigenous cases of polio reported in the United States have been associated with the use of the live OPV. Until recently, the benefits of OPV use (i.e., intestinal immunity, secondary spread) outweighed the risk for vaccine-associated paralytic poliomyelitis (VAPP) (i.e., one case among 2.4 million vaccine doses distributed). In 1997, to decrease the risk for VAPP but maintain the benefits of OPV, ACIP recommended replacing the all-OPV schedule with a sequential schedule of IPV followed by OPV. Since 1997, the global polio eradication initiative has progressed rapidly, and the likelihood of poliovirus importation into the United States has decreased substantially. In addition, the sequential schedule has been well accepted. No declines in childhood immunization coverage were observed, despite the need for additional injections. On the basis of these data, ACIP recommended on June 17, 1999, an all-IPV schedule for routine childhood polio vaccination in the United States to eliminate the risk for VAPP. ACIP reaffirms its support for the global polio eradication initiative and the use of OPV as the only vaccine recommended to eradicate polio from the remaining countries where polio is endemic.

Karachi boy died of polio, say officials

http://www.dawn.com/2008/08/05/top17.htm

By Mukhtar Alam

KARACHI, Aug 4: Health authorities on Monday confirmed the prevalence of polio virus in a child who died in a hospital early last month.

The manager of Sindh’s Expanded Programme on Immunisation, Dr Mazhar Khamesani, told Dawn that 13-month-old Afghan boy, Lutfullah, had a history of three doses of vaccine against preventive diseases and six supplementary polio preventive doses.

The National Institute of Health (NIH), which conducts laboratory tests for suspected polio patients, informed Dr Khamesani on Monday that the child had tested positive for the dreaded virus.

With the latest Karachi case, the number of polio victims this year has risen to 24 — 12 in Sindh, two in Punjab, seven in NWFP and three in Balochistan.The onset of paralysis in the Afghan boy was reported on July 3.

The first stool collection for laboratory purposes was done on July 8. The boy had received the last OPV dose on June 10.

Lutfullah died at hospital on July 9, before the results of the first sampling were available, Dr Khamesani said.

Earlier, an eight-month-old boy from Saddar town had tested positive for polio. He had died in June.

Dr Khamesani said that sometime NIH findings were publicised prematurely, adding that stool samples of the two latest victims of Karachi had been sent to the CDC Laboratory in Atlanta to ascertain whether the boys had died because of the virus.

He lamented that the NIH had informed the relevant quarters verbally about its findings, and had not given anything in writing so far.

I DON'T KNOW WHY 'MR. MJB' IS TRYING TO STIFLE ANY DEBATE ABOUT "VACCINATIONS"... PLZ SOMEONE CONTROL THIS GUY.. I AM SURE THERE MUST BE MORE THAN ONE PERSON IN THE SOCALLED HULCHUL ADNISORY COUNCIL.. HE HAS NO RIGHT TO "CLOSE" DISCUSSIONS JUST BECAUSE THEY GO AGAINST HIS OWN UNDERSTANDING OF THE SUBJECT .. IF I THOUGHT THIS MATTER SHOULD BE RAISED IN THE POLITICS/CURRENT AFFAIRS SECTION .. IT'S MY PERORGATIVE ... AND IF ASKED I COULD DEFEND MY ARGUMENT THAT THIS MATTER CANNOT BE CONFINED TO THE "HEALTH SECTION" ... A LOT OF PEOPLE'S LIVES ARE AT RISK ... AND MR. MJB HAS NO RIGHT TO SILENCE DEBATE BECAUSE OF HIS PERSONAL WHIMS...

THIS IS WHAT HE WROTE AND CLOSED THE TOPIC:

U have already posted against vaccination, which were answered as well in health section,,,,,

Just think,,,, if u have capability,,,, why only few (say max 20 cases) out of millions of children gets effected,,,,,, giving a %age of some 0.00001 like that,,,,, so is vaccination is bad or there is some other factors involved in these cases.

This post is closed for further discussion,,,, as another poster on the same issue already exists in appropriate section

I DON'T KNOW WHY 'MR. MJB' IS TRYING TO STIFLE ANY DEBATE ABOUT "VACCINATIONS"... PLZ SOMEONE CONTROL THIS GUY.. I AM SURE THERE MUST BE MORE THAN ONE PERSON IN THE SOCALLED HULCHUL ADNISORY COUNCIL.. HE HAS NO RIGHT TO "CLOSE" DISCUSSIONS JUST BECAUSE THEY GO AGAINST HIS OWN UNDERSTANDING OF THE SUBJECT .. IF I THOUGHT THIS MATTER SHOULD BE RAISED IN THE POLITICS/CURRENT AFFAIRS SECTION .. IT'S MY PERORGATIVE ... AND IF ASKED I COULD DEFEND MY ARGUMENT THAT THIS MATTER CANNOT BE CONFINED TO THE "HEALTH SECTION" ... A LOT OF PEOPLE'S LIVES ARE AT RISK ... AND MR. MJB HAS NO RIGHT TO SILENCE DEBATE BECAUSE OF HIS PERSONAL WHIMS...

mjb:
U can clearly see and read ACIP recommendations andwhat and how it recommends,,,,,, just 1 case out of 2.4 million vaccinations in 21 years,,,,,,,,, so its better to use ur brain, do some research and read some basics before doing copy & paste all the time
the best thing is to keep quite if u have no knowledge or backgroud of specific area rather giving ur own fatwas

i wonder why MJB is getting all that personal... "USE MY BRAINS"... WHAT A RECOMMENDATION!!..

I THINK MJB CANNOT UNDERSTAND PLAIN ENGLISH ..
YOU QUOTE "1 case out of 2.4 million vaccinations in 21 years.............

YOU ALSO HIGHLIGHT BUT FAIL TO REGISTER THAT:
"Since 1979, the only indigenous cases of polio reported in the United States have been associated with the use of the live OPV..."

MEANING: ALL INDIGENOUS CASES OF POLIO HAVE RESULTED FROM LIVE OPV [1 IN MILLION OR 1 IN TRILLION VACCINATIONS]