- Four polio cases confirmed in Sindh this year.
- Punjab, GB reports a polio case each.
- Polio discovered in 33 months old boy last week.
Islamabad: Pakistan has reported his 13th polio case of 2025, after the regional reference laboratory at NIH confirmed the virus in an 18-month-old girl from Union Council Amakhel, district tank in South Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
This is the seventh case from the province this year, which raises renewed alarm over sustained virus circulation in high risk areas.
So far, four cases have been reported from Sindh and one from Punjab and Gilgit-Baltistan.
The Regional Reference Laboratory at NIH Islamabad confirmed a case of wild poliovirus in a 33-month-old boy from KP’s Bannu district on Sunday.
Last week, Pakistan Polio reported program reported that polioviruses were detected in environmental tests taken from seven different districts in the country.
The program said viruses were found in environmental samples from Quetta, Gwadar, South Waziristan (Lower) and South Waziristan (Upper). Furthermore, environmental tests taken from Larkana, Rawalpindi and Mirpurkhas also included poliovirus.
In a positive news, environmental tests were collected from Pishin and Lahore declared free of poliovirus of the polio -outdic propagation program, where the public organization struggled to end the paralyzing disease from the country.
According to the anti-poliovirus organization, a total of nine wastewater samples were collected from nine districts throughout Pakistan between 8 and 23 May as part of the environmental monitoring effort.
Polio is a very infectious disease caused by poliovirus that primarily affects children under five. It can invade the nervous system, leading to paralysis or even death. Although there is no cure for polio, vaccination is the most effective way to protect children from this disease.
Pakistan is one of the two polio-endemical countries in the world together with Afghanistan, and the number of cases each year had significantly decreased in the country until the recent increase in cases.
Despite progress in national campaigns, southern KP remains a challenge due to access problems and barriers to vaccination of house-to-house, leaving many children unwaccinated and vulnerable.
By 2025, three national campaigns – held in February, April and May – reached over 45 million children, supported by 400,000 front line workers, including 225,000 female vaccinators, noted the regional reference laboratory for polio -depletion at the National Institute’s of Health (NIH) Islamabad.
Last month, Pakistan Polio Extractory Program officially launched its third national immunization Days (NIDS) campaign in an attempt to make Pakistan a poliofri nation.
By 2024, a total of 74 polio cases were reported across Pakistan, where Balochistan registered 27 cases, Sindh 23, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 22, and one case each from Punjab and Islamabad.
