ISLAMABAD – A nine-month-old infant in the Orakzai district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has been diagnosed with poliovirus, marking the sixth case in Pakistan this year.
This diagnosis has dealt a blow to the government’s extensive efforts in eradicating polio, especially in KP, where the number of cases has risen this year, the latest case adding up to four.
Commenting on this new case in KP, Caretaker Health Minister Dr Nadeem Jan stated, “A nine-month-old from Orakzai district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has been affected by poliovirus. This is the fourth case in KP and the sixth in Pakistan. Previously, three cases were reported in Bannu and two in Karachi,” he said.
Genetically, according to the minister, this case is closely linked (99.7%) with an environmental sample collected on September 26, 2023, from Lahore’s Multan Road, part of the 2023 imported cluster. This marks the first case from Orakzai district in nearly 12 years.
Meanwhile, the Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health (NIH), Islamabad, confirmed the detection of Type-1 Wild Poliovirus (WPV1) in 20 environmental (sewage) samples gathered in November 2023.
These positive environmental samples were found in various areas including Peshawar, three in Karachi East, two each in Quetta, Chaman, and Karachi Keamari, and one each in Pishin, Karachi Central, Karachi South, Hyderabad, Jamshoro, Bannu, and Kohat.
These new findings bring the total count of positive environmental (sewage) samples in Pakistan for 2023 to 84.
Health authorities in Islamabad expressed concern over the performance of polio eradication authorities following the spread of the virus, suggesting a revision of the eradication strategy due to shortcomings in the current approach by program officials.
