ISLAMABAD (Kashmir English): Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa has reported a new polio case taking this year’s tally of cases to 30.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH), Islamabad Tuesday said that one new case of poliovirus had been confirmed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Torghar.
Pakistan is one of the last two countries in the world, alongside Afghanistan, where polio remains endemic.
Despite global efforts to eradicate the virus, challenges such as vaccine hesitancy, security issues, and misinformation marred progress.
According to a statement from the Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the NIH, the latest case of poliovirus was detected in a 12-month-old boy from Ghari union council in Torghar, marking the second such case in the district this year.
With the new case, the total number of polio cases in Pakistan this year has reached 30 – including 19 from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, nine from Sindh, and one each from Punjab and Gilgit-Baltistan.
The statement further said that during the month of September, the Pakistan Polio Programme collected 127 sewage samples across 87 districts in the country.
Of these, 81 samples tested negative for poliovirus, while 44 were found positive.
Anti-polio drive
The fourth national anti-polio vaccination drive for the year was conducted last week, which covered over 44 million children, while the campaign in south KP is still in progress.
Last year, Pakistan reported at least 71 polio cases. Polio is a highly infectious and incurable disease that can cause lifelong paralysis and the only effective protection is through repeated doses of the oral polio vaccine for every child under five.
