Latest case emerges as crippling disease grips country despite rigorous efforts by authorities
Faisal Sheikh
ISLAMABAD: As the authorities continue to struggle to wipe out poliovirus from the country, Islamabad on Friday reported its first case of the crippling disease in 16 years, taking Pakistan’s tally to 17 this year.
Polio is a highly infectious disease caused by virus mainly affecting children under the age of five years, who are malnourished or have weak immunity because of being under-vaccinated or not vaccinated for polio and other childhood diseases.
The illness invades the nervous system and causes paralysis or even death. While there is no cure for polio, vaccination is the most effective way to protect children from this crippling disease.
Despite rigorous efforts by the government towards eradication of the disease, Pakistan remains in the grip of poliovirus. It is one of the two remaining polio-endemic countries in the world, along with Afghanistan, and the number of cases on a yearly basis has significantly dropped in the country.
According to the Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio at the National Institute of Health, the 17th case of 2024 was reported from the federal capital when a child from Union Council Rural 4 of Islamabad was paralysed by type 1 (WPV1) of the viral disease.
