The third polio case of 2024 has been reported in Killa Abdullah district, Balochistan, where a 12-year-old girl tested positive for Wild Poliovirus 1 (WPV1), officials announced on Saturday. The virus was found in stool samples from the girl, who showed paralysis symptoms on April 20, as confirmed by the Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio at the National Institute of Health. Genetic sequencing of the virus is ongoing.
This marks the third polio case in Pakistan this year, with the previous two cases also emerging from different districts in Balochistan. Dr. Malik Mukhtar Ahmed Bharath, Coordinator to the Prime Minister on National Health Services, expressed sorrow over the incident, emphasizing the devastating impact of polio on children and their families. He urged families to vaccinate their children under five during the government’s door-to-door polio vaccination campaigns to protect them from this debilitating disease.
