New polio case detected in Balochistan, raising nationwide tally to 65

Pakistan on Tuesday reported a new case of polio in Balochistan, raising the tally for the current year to 65, according to the state-owned Associated Press of Pakistan.

Pakistan is one of the last two countries in the world, alongside Afghanistan, where polio remains endemic, with the disease mostly affecting children under five, and sometimes causing lifelong paralysis. Despite global efforts to eradicate the virus, challenges such as security issues, vaccine hesitancy, and misinformation have slowed progress.

The case was discovered as the nationwide anti-polio campaign — which ran from Dec 16 to Dec 22 came to a close. The drive aimed at inoculating more than 44 million children under the age of five in 143 districts of the country. Three other polio vaccination drives took place this year.

The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) confirmed the detection of the 65th case of wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) from the country.

“The lab confirmed the case from Qila Abdullah. This is the seventh polio case from Qila Abdullah this year,” the APP report said.

“Of the 65 cases, 27 are from Balochistan, 18 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 18 from Sindh, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.”

The December sub-national polio vaccination campaign in Balochistan province is scheduled to begin on December 30, during which all 36 districts of the province will be targeted for vaccination.

Polio is a paralysing 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 are essential to provide children with high immunity against this terrible disease.

The Pakistan Polio Programme conducts multiple mass vaccination drives in a year, bringing the vaccine to children at their doorsteps, while the Expanded Programme on Immunisation provides vaccinations against 12 childhood diseases free of charge at health facilities.

Earlier, the NIH lab detected the polio virus in environmental samples collected from 10 already infected districts. According to a lab official, sewage samples collected from Gwadar, Sibi, Khuzdar, Dukki, Hub, Lasbela, Noshki, Bannu, Dera Ismail Khan and Lahore were found positive for WPV1.

The tally of polio cases reached 64 last week after the lab had confirmed a case from Jacobabad.