Pakistan reports 3rd wild poliovirus case in Sindh, 16th case overall in 2024
Health officials in Pakistan report an additional case of wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) in Sindh province. The latest case found in a 29-month-old child from Hyderabad district of Sindh province was reported by the Regional Reference Lab at the National Institute of Health.
The Prime Minister’s Focal Person for Polio Eradication, Ayesha Raza Farooq said that WPV1 was consistently being reported in sewage samples of Hyderabad for the last four months, reiterating the continued risk of polio circulating anywhere in the country. While poliovirus is circulating anywhere, children everywhere are at risk, she underscored.
“We are operating on an emergency footing in all provinces given the intensity of the outbreak and extent of virus spread,” she said, adding that the Polio Programme has held extensive consultations with provincial teams and is implementing a comprehensive roadmap to interrupt virus transmission, beginning with an extensive, large-scale polio vaccination campaign from September 9.
Muhammad Anwar ul Haq, Coordinator of the National Emergency Operations Centre for Polio Eradication, said that a detailed case investigation is being conducted to identify the origins of the virus and the immunization status of the child.
“Poliovirus has been circulating in adjacent districts of Karachi and in Hyderabad for several months,” he said. “Every child’s wellbeing is important to us, and we will be launching a vaccination campaign in all affected districts from September 9 to boost children’s immunity.”
This is the 16th WPV-1 case reported in Pakistan this year to date and the third from Sindh province—the other cases were reported from Balochistan (12) and Punjab (1).
Globally, along with Afghanistan (13), 29 WPV-1 cases have been reported, the most since 2022 when 30 cases were reported.
Polio is caused by a human enterovirus called the poliovirus. The virus is most often spread by the fecal-oral route. Poliovirus enters through the mouth and multiplies in the intestine. Infected individuals shed poliovirus into the environment for several weeks, where it can spread rapidly through a community, especially in areas of poor sanitation. Poliomyelitis can affect any age, but primarily involves children ages less than 5 years.
The initial symptoms of polio include fever, fatigue, headaches, vomiting, stiffness in the neck, and pain in the limbs. In a small proportion of cases, the disease can cause paralysis, which is often permanent.
There is no cure for polio, and it can only be prevented by immunization:
Oral polio vaccine (OPV) is safe and effective and given multiple times, it offers long-lasting protection against the poliovirus.
OPV is administered orally and does not require health professionals or sterile needle syringes. As such, OPV is easy to administer in mass vaccination campaigns that take place in Pakistan.
Moreover, for several weeks after vaccination the vaccine virus replicates in the intestine, is excreted and can be spread to others in close contact. This means that in areas with poor hygiene and sanitation, immunization with OPV can result in ‘passive’ immunization of people who have not been vaccinated.
IPV, or inactivated polio vaccine, is an extremely safe vaccine and highly effective in protecting children from polio. It produces antibodies in the blood against poliovirus and, unlike OPV, it has limited ability to stop the spread of virus in a community. This is why in the polio-endemic countries such as Pakistan, OPV is the predominant vaccine used in the fight to eradicate the virus. Administering IPV requires trained health workers, as well as sterile injection equipment and procedures
Combining OPV and IPV provides stronger protection against polio. IPV strengthens immunity in the blood while OPV strengthens immunity in the gut.
IPV has been introduced into the routine schedule across Pakistan to give children the best protection against polio. The current routine immunization schedule recommends one dose of IPV and multiple doses of OPV for full protection against polio.
Once polio is eradicated, IPV will be the only vaccine available for routine use.