Islamabad, Aug 26
Another two polio cases were detected in the southern parts of Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, raising the overall tally to 23 in 2025, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) said on Tuesday.
According to the statement of the Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at NIH in Islamabad, the new cases include a 16-month-old girl from Union Council Mullazai in Tank district and a 24-month-old girl from Union Council Miran Shah-3 in North Waziristan district of the province, local media reported.
It further said that with these detections, the total number of polio cases in Pakistan in 2025 has reached 23, including 15 cases from KP, six from Sindh, and one each from Punjab and Pakistan-occupied Gilgit-Baltistan.
"Polio is a highly infectious and incurable disease that can cause lifelong paralysis. The only effective protection is through repeated doses of the oral polio vaccine (OPV) for every child under five during each campaign, alongside timely completion of all routine immunisations. Despite significant progress, the continued detection of polio cases, particularly in Southern KP, remains a serious concern," the polio eradication body added.