Polio cases in Pakistan rise to 39
In a follow-up on the wild poliovirus situation in Pakistan, seven additional WPV1 cases were reported in the past week.
The 33rd case was reported on October 14. The patient from Quetta District of Balochistan. The case had onset of paralysis on 22 Aug 2024.
On October 18, the Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health, Islamabad, has confirmed the detection of wild poliovirus type-1 (WPV1) in three children from Balochistan and one child from Lakki Marwat district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The three children affected in Balochistan, include a girl child from Pishin who showed symptoms of polio on September 25, a boy from Chaman, who showed symptoms on September 28 and a boy from Noshki who showed symptoms on September 26, while the affected child in Lakki Marwat is a girl child who showed symptoms on September 29.
This brought the total confirmed WPV1 cases to 37.
On October 19, officials confirmed two wild poliovirus type-1 (WPV1) cases from Sindh.
The two affected children include a girl child from Sanghar district and a boy child from Mirpur Khas district.
The total number of polio cases for this year in Pakistan has reached 39, including 20 from Balochistan, 12 from Sindh, five from KP, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.
The Pakistan Polio Programme is launching a nationwide polio vaccination campaign from October 28 to vaccinate more than 45 million children under the age of five against paralytic polio.
It is critical for parents to open their door to vaccinators during this drive and ensure that all children in their care receive two drops of the crucial oral polio vaccine to keep them protected from the devastating effects of polio.
Polio is a highly infectious disease caused by poliovirus mainly affecting children under the age of five years. It invades the nervous system and can cause paralysis or even death. While there is no cure for polio, vaccination is the most effective way to protect children from this crippling disease. Each time a child under the age of five is vaccinated, their protection against the virus is increased. Repeated immunisations have protected millions of children from polio, allowing almost all countries in the world to become polio-free. Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two remaining polio endemic countries globally.