18th polio case of year surfaces in Quetta

One more Polio case surfaced on Wednesday, the 18 such in the country this year so far, highlighting the ever-present risk of the spread of wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) amid a nationwide polio vaccination campaign that was conducted earlier this month.

The latest case was reported from Quetta. The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health (NIH), Islamabad, confirmed the detection of WPV1 in a two-year-old child in Union Council Qadriabad of the Balochistan capital.

This was the second polio case in Quetta this year, and the 13th in Balochistan province, the highest number of cases in the entire country.

It came after The Polio Eradication Programme conducted a house-to-house vaccination campaign from September 9 to 13 across 115 high risk districts.

Ayesha Raza Farooq, prime minister's focal person for polio eradication, expressed deep concern over the rise in polio cases in Balochistan and stressed the importance of reaching every child with multiple doses of the protective polio vaccines.