Pakistan reports 49th WPV1 case of 2024 from Jaffarabad

ISLAMABAD: The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health in Islamabad has confirmed the detection of another wild poliovirus (WPV1) case from Pakistan.
On Thursday, 14 Nov 2024, the lab confirmed the polio case from Jaffarabad district of Balochistan, bringing the number of total cases in the country to 49 this year.
Genetic sequencing of the virus isolated from collected samples indicates it is genetically linked to WPV1 detected in Pishin in April 2024.
This is the first polio case from Jaffarabad which shares a border with Nasirabad and Jhal Magsi districts in Balochistan and Jacobabad and Kambar districts in Sindh, all of which have reported WPV1 in sewage samples or human cases in recent months, indicating wider circulation of the virus.
Balochistan is the most affected province this year with 24 reported cases, while 13 have been reported from Sindh province, 10 from KP and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.