Four more cases of polio virus have been detected in Pakistan taking the tally up to 37 this year. Pakistan reported another four cases of polio virus taking the national tally to 37 this year, a media report said on Saturday (October 19, 2024). The regional reference laboratory for polio eradication at the National Institute of Health, Islamabad, on Friday, confirmed the detection of wild poliovirus type-1 (WPV 1) in three children from Balochistan and one child from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, reported agencies.
The children affected by the wild poliovirus include a girl from Pishin, two boys from Chaman and Noshki in Balochistan, and a girl from Lakki Marwat district of KP, according to an official of the regional reference laboratory for polio eradication. Of the 37 cases detected from across Pakistan so far this year, the official said, 20 have been reported from Balochis tan, 10 from Sindh, five from KP, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad. "Genetic sequencing of the cases is underway," he disclosed.
"These were the first polio cases from Noshki and Lakki Marwat this year," he said, adding that both Chaman and Pishin had reported one poliovirus case each earlier as well..
