Total polio cases in Pakistan rise to 17 after three new infections detected

Islamabad: Pakistan has reported three new polio cases, taking the total number of cases in 2025 to 17. Two cases were detected in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and one in Sindh, The News International reported.

The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health (NIH) in Islamabad said the new cases were from North Waziristan, Lakki Marwat and Umerkot. The patients include a 15-month-old girl from Lakki Marwat’s Union Council Takhtikhel, a six-month-old girl from Union Council Mir Ali-3 in North Waziristan, and a five-year-old boy from Union Council Chajro in Umerkot.

With the latest cases, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa accounts for 10 cases, Sindh for five, and Punjab and Pakistan-occupied Gilgit-Baltistan for one each.

Polio is a highly infectious viral disease that primarily affects children under five, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). While there is no cure, multiple doses of the polio vaccine can provide lifelong protection.

A special vaccination drive has been under way in border Union Councils from 21 to 27 July, in coordination with Afghanistan’s sub-national polio campaign. A fractional IPV-OPV campaign began in District Chaman on 21 July and will be expanded to six other districts of Balochistan from 28 July.

In May, the NIH reported that Wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) had been detected in sewage samples from 18 districts. The samples, collected between 7 and 17 April as part of environmental surveillance, came from cities including Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Quetta, Peshawar and Islamabad.