ISLAMABAD / QUE­T­TA: Pakistan reported this year’s 65th case of poliovirus on Tuesday, with another child from Baloc­h­istan’s Qila Abdullah district crippled by the disease.

An official of the Regional Reference Labo­r­a­tory for Polio Eradi­ca­tion confirmed the detection of wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1).

The victim is an 18-month-old male child from Union Council Sagai, Tehsil Gulistan of Qila Abdullah.

The child is malnourished and has a history of repeated diarrhoeal episodes, the official said, adding that genome sequencing showed the virus was genetically linked to the environmental sample detected from Sibi in August.

According to the father, the child came from Afghanistan’s Helmand province to Qila Abdullah two months ago.

In Afghanistan, the child had received more than seven doses of polio vaccination, but in October, he missed a vaccine dose.

After arrival in Qila Abdullah, he was again administered a vaccine dose at the District Headquarters Hospital on November 1.

This is the seventh polio case from Qila Abdullah and the 27th overall from Balochistan this year.

Pakistan has seen a resurgence of WPV1 this year, with 65 cases reported so far. Of these, 27 were from Balochistan, 18 from Khyber Pakh­tunkhwa, 18 from Sindh, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.

The latest case surfaced days after the nationwide vaccination campaign was postponed till December 30 in Balochistan.

Published in Dawn, December 25th, 2024