Pakistan reports 3 new poliovirus cases, yearly tally rises to 55

Islamabad: Pakistan has reported three new poliovirus cases from Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces taking the total number of infections this year to 55, according to a media report on Monday. 

The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health has confirmed the three wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases, The Dawn newspaper reported.

The victims were two girls aged eight and 20 months and a five-month-old boy. The new cases were reported from Dera Ismail Khan, Zhob and Jaffarabad districts, a lab official was quoted as saying. All three districts have already reported a case of poliovirus this year.

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Dera Ismail Khan, which has now reported six polio cases this year, has been one of the seven polio-endemic districts in southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.        

Routine immunisation programmes have faced significant challenges in accessing all vulnerable children in the district during the last three years, the newspaper said. 

Similar challenges are prevalent in Balochistan, where Zhob and Jaffarabad districts have reported three and two cases respectively, in 2024.         

Of the 55 cases reported so far, 26 have been reported from Balochistan, 14 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 13 from Sindh, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.

The new cases were reported days after a Global Polio Eradication Initiative delegation met with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to discuss “strategies to combat the poliovirus outbreak and to address emerging challenges”.

There is no cure for polio. Only multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine and completion of the routine vaccination schedule for all children under the age of five can keep them protected.

Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only countries in the world where polio remains endemic, according to the World Health Organisation.