Polio cripples one more child in Pakistan

Latest case brings total number of Wild Poliovirus Type-1 (WPV1) cases to 48 in country this year

By M Waqar Bhatti
November 10, 2024
Representational image of a child being marked vaccinated by a health worker after inoculation against poliovirus during a door-to-door immunisation campaign in Karachi. — AFP/File
Representational image of a child being marked 'vaccinated' by a health worker after inoculation against poliovirus during a door-to-door immunisation campaign in Karachi. — AFP/File

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s fight against polio suffered another setback when one more child was paralysed by the virus in Dera Ismail Khan (DI Khan) district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The latest case brings the total number of Wild Poliovirus Type-1 (WPV1) cases to 48 in the country this year.

The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at National Institute of Health (NIH) in Islamabad confirmed this latest case on Saturday, reporting infection in a boy from DI Khan — a region struggling with persistent polio transmission.

Balochistan has recorded the highest number of cases (23), followed by Sindh (13), KP (10) and one case each from Punjab and Islamabad. Genetic sequencing of samples collected from the child is currently underway to trace transmission patterns and support targeted vaccination drives.