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One more case of poliovirus has been confirmed in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, taking the total countrywide tally to 14, officials said. The new case, a 19-month-old boy, was reported in the North Waziristan district of the province, the Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health (NIH) Islamabad said on Tuesday. With the latest case, the total number of polio cases in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has risen to 8. Four cases were confirmed in Sindh and one each in Punjab and Gilgit-Baltistan earlier this year. Pakistan is one of the last two countries in the world, alongside Afghanistan, where polio remains endemic. Despite global efforts to eradicate the virus, challenges such as security issues, vaccine hesitancy, and misinformation have slowed progress. This year, Pakistan has undertaken three nationwide polio campaigns so far in February, April, and May. Polio eradication efforts in Pakistan routinely face security issues. The cas
Zydus Lifesciences on Wednesday said it is introducing a vaccine for protection against new strain of influenza virus. The company is introducing country's first flu protection quadrivalent influenza virus vaccine as per WHO recommended composition, the Ahmedabad-based drug major said in a statement. Zydus's Quadrivalent Inactivated Influenza vaccine VaxiFlu-4 will offer seasonal protection against four new virus strains, it added. A quadrivalent vaccine, by covering strains of both influenza A and influenza B, provides a broader protection and significantly reduces the risk of vaccine mismatch, it said. The vaccine has been cleared by the Central Drug Laboratory (CDL), the drug maker said. "Preventives are the key to public health in both the developing and the developed world and vaccines have the potential to improve the quality of life," Zydus Lifesciences Managing Director Sharvil Patel said. In India, there is a pressing need for access to affordable, high-quality vaccines
The number of suspected Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS) deaths in Maharashtra's Pune district has risen to six after a 63-year-old man died, a health official has said. The man was admitted to a hospital in the Sinhgad Road area after he complained of fever, loose motions and weakness in the lower limb and was diagnosed with GBS, the official said on Thursday. "His condition deteriorated on Wednesday and he died of acute ischemic stroke," the Pune Municipal Corporation health official said. He added that of the six deaths, five are suspected GBS deaths, while one is a confirmed fatality from the rare nerve disorder. With the detection of three new cases, the number of suspected GBS cases in Pune rose to 173, a Maharashtra health department release said. "Of these, 140 have been diagnosed with GBS. Of the 173, a total of 34 patients are from Pune Municipal Corporation limits, 87 from newly added villages in PMC area, 22 from Pimpri Chinchwad civic limits, 22 from rural parts of the .
A three-year-old child who had been undergoing treatment for Human metapneumovirus (HMPV) in a private hospital for the past few days was discharged on Saturday. Director of Health for Puducherry, V Ravichandran, told PTI, "The child has fully recovered from the disease and was discharged on Saturday. The parents were given necessary instructions on the care and precautionary measures they should take for the child's health at home." He mentioned that this was the first case of HMPV in Puducherry. Ravichandran added that the centrally administered JIPMER was testing all HMPV cases according to the standard protocol and was equipped with the necessary testing kits. He further stated that the Puducherry government was taking steps to conduct testing at the state-run Indira Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute in nearby Kadirkamam. "The territorial government is keeping a constant vigil on the situation, and necessary precautionary steps are being taken," he said. Meanwhile
Gujarat has reported its fourth human metapneumovirus (HMPV) case, with a nine-month-old child contracting the infection in Ahmedabad, officials said Saturday. All the cases have been reported in less than a week. The baby boy was admitted to a private hospital in the city on January 6 with a cold, cough and difficulty in breathing. He has no history of foreign or other travel, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation said. On Friday, an eight-year-old boy from Sabarkantha district was confirmed to be infected with HMPV, making him the third case in the state. Two days back, an 80-year-old man tested positive for the viral infection in Ahmedabad. The patient, who has been suffering from asthma, is currently being treated at a private hospital. Gujarat recorded its first case of HMPV on January 6, when a two-month-old boy from Rajasthan was found to be afflicted with the viral disease, which has symptoms like fever, nasal congestion, runny nose, and cough. He was discharged after being .
With two cases of Human Metapneumovirus (HMPV) detected in Karnataka, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday said he has directed the health and medical education departments to take all the precautionary measures. "There is information on HMPV or China virus infection in Karnataka. I have instructed the health department to take precautionary measures, I have also spoken to Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao. We -- Health and Medical Education departments -- will take all the precautionary measures to control it," Siddaramaiah said. Briefing reporters here, he said the infections have been detected in two children. "Though it is not a dangerous virus, precautionary measures need to be taken." "Whatever measures the health department suggests, the government will support all those measures." The Indian Council of Medical Research has detected two cases of HMPV in Karnataka through routine surveillance for multiple respiratory viral pathogens, the Union health ministry earlier said on