Third polio case of 2025 reported

ISLAMABAD: Pakis­tan has reported another case of wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1), taking the total to three cases in 2025.

According to an official of the Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Era­d­i­cation, the case has been reported from Larkana, Sindh.

The official said that the victim is a 54-month-old girl.

This is the second polio case reported from Sindh this year, with the third one detected in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Pakistan is facing a res­u­r­gence of poliovirus, as 74 cases were reported in 2024.

Of these, 27 were from Balochistan, 22 from KP, 23 from Sindh, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.

This year’s first nationwide polio vaccination campaign was held earlier this month.

It was followed by a fractional IPV-OPV Polio [injectable polio vaccine] campaign in Quetta and Karachi on Feb 20 and 22, respectively.

Around one million children were targeted for vaccination in this campaign, according to the officials.

Moreover, a vaccination campaign in 104 union councils bordering Afghanistan or having Afghan refugee camps is scheduled from Feb 24 to 28.

Around 660,000 children will be targeted for vaccination during this activity.

Published in Dawn, February 23rd, 2025

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