ISLAMABAD: The tally of polio cases for 2025 reached 31 on Tuesday after a sample collected last year in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s North Waziristan district tested positive.

Pakistan’s Polio Eradication Programme said in a statement that the Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health (NIH), Islamabad, had confirmed a case of wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) in North Waziristan.

“This is the fifth case reported from North Waziristan in 2025, bringing the total number of polio cases in Pakistan for the past year to 31,” it said.

Meanwhile, an official from the lab said that the case was included in the list for 2025 as the sample was collected last year.

“It takes up to three weeks to confirm that a child has been affected. There are some more samples in the lab which are being analysed and, in case of confirmation, the tally for 2025 may further increase,” he said.

He added that wild poliovirus was detected in a four-month-old girl from Union Council Spinwam-2 in North Waziristan.

“The onset of symptoms began in December and subsequent samples collected from her were positive for WPV1. Therefore, this is the 31st case of 2025,” he said.

“Last year, Pakistan reported 20 cases from KP, nine from Sindh, and one each from Punjab and Gilgit-Baltistan,” he added.

In a statement issued last month, the country’s polio eradication programme noted that the overall trend showed a decline in positive detections of poliovirus compared to 2024 but circulation persisted in certain high-risk areas.

Polio is a highly infectious and incurable disease that can cause lifelong paralysis. The only effective protection is through repeated doses of the oral polio vaccine for every child under five during each campaign, along with the timely completion of all essential immunisations.