Fresh case of poliovirus in Pak's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa takes country-wide tally to 30

Peshawar, Oct 21 (PTI) A new poliovirus case has been detected in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, taking the tally across the country to 30 this year, the National Institute of Health (NIH) said on Tuesday.

The latest case has been detected in a one-year-old boy from Ghari Union Council, Torghar district, making the second case from the district this year, according to a statement by the Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at Islamabad’s NIH.

"With this detection, the total number of polio cases in Pakistan in 2025 has reached 30 – including 19 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, nine from Sindh, and one each from Punjab and Gilgit-Baltistan,” it said.

The statement added 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; two samples are currently under process in the laboratory, the statement added.

Balochistan reported 21 negative samples and two positive; Punjab reported 22 negative, eight positive and one which was still under process.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa reported 24 negative and 10 positive; Sindh reported seven negative, 21 positive and one which was under process; Islamabad reported four negative and one positive; and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) reported four negative and one positive.

“While the overall trend indicates a decline in positive detections, reflecting the impact of recent high-quality vaccination campaigns, virus circulation persists in certain high-risk areas,” the statement said.

In 2024, the country reported at least 71 polio cases, with the virus detected in around 90 districts.

Despite global efforts to eradicate the virus, challenges such as security issues, vaccine hesitancy, and misinformation have slowed progress.

A NOEC report showed that in September, the number of children remaining unvaccinated due to parental refusals had come down in the recent immunisation drive compared to the previous campaign.   Pakistan is one of the last two countries in the world, alongside Afghanistan, where polio remains endemic.

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 (OPV) for every child under the age of five during each campaign, along with the timely completion of all routine immunisations. PTI AYZ SKS GSP