KARACHI: Health authorities have confirmed another case of polio virus in Pakistan, the country’s polio program said on Saturday, taking this year’s nationwide tally to six.
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 5 is essential to provide children high immunity against the disease.
The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health in Islamabad confirmed the polio virus in a child in Thatta district of the southern Sindh province, according to the Pakistan polio program.
“This is the fourth polio case from Sindh and the sixth case from Pakistan at large this year,” it said in a statement.
“The polio program urges all parents to get their children vaccinated against polio at every opportunity to keep them protected from this devastating disease.”
Pakistan witnessed an intense resurgence of polio virus last year, with a total of 74 cases reported nationwide. Of these, 27 were from Balochistan, 22 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 23 from Sindh, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.
The South Asian country last month concluded its first nationwide anti-polio campaign of 2025, with 99 percent of the targets achieved, according to the polio program. The campaign, conducted on Feb. 3-9, vaccinated more than 45 million children.
Pakistan and Afghanistan are the last two countries in the world where polio remains an endemic.
Immunization campaigns have succeeded in most countries and have come close in Pakistan, but persistent problems remain. In the early 1990s, Pakistan reported around 20,000 cases annually but in 2018 the number dropped to eight cases. Six cases were reported in 2023 and only one in 2021.
Pakistan’s polio program began in 1994 but efforts to eradicate the virus have since been undermined by vaccine misinformation and opposition from some religious hard-liners who say immunization is a foreign ploy to sterilize Muslim children or a cover for Western spies. Militant groups also frequently attack and kill members of polio vaccine teams.
Pakistan reports sixth case of polio virus this year
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Pakistan reports sixth case of polio virus this year
- The latest polio case was reported in the Thatta district, which is the fourth case in Sindh this year
- Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries in the world where polio remains an endemic
