Pakistan reports 14th polio case of 2024

ISLAMABAD: Another polio case emerged in Pakistan as a 20-month-old boy has been confirmed to be infected with the virus, ARY News reported citing the National Institute of Health (NIH) sources.

The sources said that the affected child belonged to the Kila Saifullah district of Balochistan.

This is the 14th polio case that has been reported in Pakistan so far this year out of which 11 emerged from Balochistan alone.

The child is affected with Wild Polio Virus Type 1 and he showed polio symptoms on July 22. The National Institute of Health sources said that the genetic relationship of the polio virus in the affected child is being investigated.

It is pertinent to mention here that 11 polio cases have been reported from Balochistan, two from Sindh, and one from Punjab this year.

Read More: Polio virus detected in 52 districts across Pakistan

Earlier, the Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health, Islamabad, has confirmed the detection of the virus in an environmental sample from nine districts, taking the total number of districts with virus presence to 52 so far this year.

In the first seven months, nine children have also been infected by the crippling disease.

An official of the polio programme said environmental samples collected from Dadu, Hyderabad, Karachi South, Karachi Cen­tral, Karachi West, Quetta, Loralai, Rawal­pindi and Islamabad contained WPV1.