ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s National Institutes of Health (NIH) confirmed on Tuesday one new case of wild poliovirus in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Torghar district, raising the country’s total number of cases this year to 30.
The latest infection was found in a 12-month-old boy from the Ghari union council, marking the second case in Torghar and the nineteenth in the province.
Pakistan remains one of only two countries in the world where the virus is still endemic, alongside Afghanistan.
According to the NIH’s Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication, the country has so far detected 19 cases in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, nine in Sindh, and one each in Punjab and Gilgit-Baltistan.
Health officials said ongoing challenges — including security threats, vaccine hesitancy, and misinformation — continue to impede eradication efforts.
Environmental Surveillance and Vaccination Campaigns
The NIH said that 127 sewage samples were collected from 87 districts across Pakistan in September. Of these, 44 tested positive for poliovirus. While the overall trend showed a decline in detections, the virus remains active in several high-risk regions.
“The detections highlight the continued need for strong, targeted efforts to interrupt transmission,” the institute said, adding that the Pakistan Polio Eradication Initiative is intensifying outreach and vaccination efforts.
Last week, Pakistan concluded its fourth national vaccination campaign of 2025, reaching more than 44 million children, with a focused drive still underway in southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa — an area long regarded as a hotspot for transmission.
Polio, a highly infectious viral disease that can cause lifelong paralysis, remains incurable, but repeated doses of the oral polio vaccine offer complete protection.
