ISLAMABAD: The 46th case of poliovirus this year has been reported from Qila Saifullah district of Balochistan, officials confirmed on Tuesday.

The case of wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) has be­en detected in a male child, an official of the Reg­­ional Reference Labo­r­a­tory for Polio Eradica­t­ion in Islamabad told Dawn.

This is the second case of poliovirus from Qila Saifullah this year. So far, 23 cases have been rep­orted from Balochistan, 12 from Sindh, nine from KP and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.

“The genetic sequencing of the sample collected from the child is underway,” the official added.

The case from Qila Saif­ullah has been reported after several sewage samples collected from the area tested positive for the presence of WPV1.

Positive sewage samples and reported cases are the two indicators of the virus presence in an area.

Last week, the virus presence was detected in two new districts — Nos­hki, Balochistan, and Mia­n­wali, Punjab — which had so far remained unaffected by the virus.

“Balochistan is the most affected province this year,” he said, adding the vaccination campaign in the province faced multiple challenges in previous months due to protests and militant attacks.

“This high number of cases is indicative of the harm that children suffer from missed vaccination opportunities,” he said.

So far in November, three new cases of poliovirus have been reported from Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Published in Dawn, November 6th, 2024