Polio surge continues in Pakistan as 3 more cases are confirmed
In all of 2023, Pakistan health officials reported six wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases.
On Saturday, officials reported half that number in a year where polio is surging in the country.
The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health confirmed the three cases from DI Khan and Zhob districts, where female children are affected, and Jaffarabad district where a male child is affected.
This brings the number of total cases in the country this year to date to 55.
DI Khan, one of the seven polio endemic districts of southern KP, has now reported six polio cases, while this is the third case this year from Zhob and second from Jaffarabad.
Of the 55 total cases, 26 are from Balochistan, 14 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 13 from Sindh, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.
Polio is a paralyzing disease that has no cure. Multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine and completion of the routine vaccination schedule for all children under the age of five is essential to provide children high immunity against this terrible disease.