Pakistan: Seventh case of polio reported in Dera Ismail Khan

According to Dawn, there have been 56 polio cases so far this year, including a seventh in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province’s Dera Ismail Khan area.

Dawn claims that Pakistan and Afghanistan are still the only two nations in the world where polio is still a major problem.

The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Islamabad verified the polio case on Wednesday, according to the National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC).

With 26 cases, Balochistan has reported the highest, followed by KP, which has so far recorded 15 polio cases, including 7 from Dera Ismail Khan, and Sindh, with 13.

According to the National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC) of Pakistan, three polio cases were reported earlier on November 24 from Dera Ismail Khan and Zhob and Jaffarabad in Balochistan.

Six polio cases have been recorded from southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa alone this year, according to the statement. The afflicted youngsters include a male from Jaffarabad and two girls from Dera Ismail Khan and Zhob.

Notably, international organizations are concerned about the recent increase in polio infections in Pakistan.

International organizations have urged Pakistan to take immediate action, according to sources. According to sources, Pakistan promised to move quickly to contain polio.

The 48th Wild Poliovirus Type-1 (WPV1) case in Pakistan was previously verified by the National Institute of Health Islamabad’s Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication.

The lab verified the identification of WPV1 in a male youngster from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s DI Khan area on November 8. One of the polio-endemic districts in southern KP is DI Khan.