Peshawar:
A new wild poliovirus case of the Bannu district in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP), the sixth in the province in 2025, carrying the national count to 12, said Friday, health officials, health officials.
The infected child belongs to the Council of the Shams Khel Union in the Bannu district of southern KP, a health area that health officials describe as the most vulnerable polyomyelitis zone in the country, where vaccine’s bad access and resistance continues to hinder the eradication efforts.
Earlier this month, the health authorities confirmed a wild poliovirus case in the Diamer District of Gilgit-Baltistan, the first instance of this type informed from the region.
So far this year, Sindh has reported four cases, Punjab and Gilgit-Baltistan one, and the remaining six emerge from several districts in southern kp. The resurgence underlines persistent immunity gaps, particularly in rural and difficult areas.
Read: Poliovirus detected in the Hyderabad sample
In 2025, three vaccination campaigns of national polyomyelitis were carried out, during which almost 45 million children under five received oral drops. More than 400,000 first -line workers, including 225,000 volunteers, have participated in the efforts.
Health officials have urged parents to ensure that their children receive all doses, warning that the polio remains incurable and can only be prevented through vaccination. They emphasized that even a single lost dose leaves a child vulnerable to potentially deadly paralysis.
Pakistan is one of the two remaining countries in the world where polyomyelitis is still classified as an endemic viral infection, the other is Afghanistan.
