Islamabad: Pakistan recorded its 13th polio case of the year on Friday after the virus was detected in an 18-month-old girl from Union Council Amakhel, District Tank in South Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, as confirmed by the Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health (NIH) in Islamabad.
This marks the seventh case in the province this year, raising renewed concerns over the transmission of the virus in the high-risk regions, local media reports cited.
Four cases have been confirmed from Sindh, and one each from Punjab and Gilgit-Baltistan until now.
Earlier this week, the Regional Reference Laboratory at NIH Islamabad reported the detection of the virus in a 33-month-old boy from KP’s Bannu district.
Last week, the NIH in a report stated that Wild Poliovirus Type 1 (WPV1) was detected in environmental samples collected from seven districts across Pakistan.
According to the Regional Reference Laboratory, the samples were collected between May 8 and May 23 as part of Pakistan’s ongoing environmental surveillance programme.
Sewage samples from Gwadar and Quetta in southwest Balochistan province, Rawalpindi in eastern Punjab province, South Waziristan Upper and South Waziristan Lower in northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, and Larkana and Mirpur Khas in southern Sindh province tested positive for WPV1, the report said.
Samples from Lahore in Punjab province and Pishin in Balochistan province tested negative, it added.
The Pakistan Polio Eradication Programme conducted three nationwide immunisation campaigns in 2025, reaching over 45 million children under the age of five with the support of more than 400,000 frontline workers, according to health authorities
Health officials urged all parents and caregivers to ensure their children receive polio drops during every campaign, emphasising that repeated vaccination is the only effective way to protect children from the debilitating disease.
Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries in the world where wild poliovirus remains endemic. Polio workers have frequently been targetted in attacks, particularly in the northwest and southwest regions.
One of the reasons for the presence of the virus is the refusal of the majority of people to have their children vaccinated. Polio health workers have been victims of targetted killings and attacks by militant groups, who have opposed anti-polio campaigns in the country.
In April, two health workers affiliated with Pakistan’s anti-polio campaign were abducted by unidentified gunmen in the country’s northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
The incident occurred in the Kulachi area of Dera Ismail Khan district, where armed men intercepted a passenger bus en route to Dera Ismail Khan and forcibly took the two workers to an unknown location, a local police official said. The victims were returning from official duties related to the country’s polio eradication campaign, police said.
(IANS)
