ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has reported its seventh polio case of the year, with a six-month-old boy from Karachi’s East district testing positive for wild poliovirus, the National Emergency Operation Centre (NEOC) said on Monday.
The affected child belongs to Union Council Jamali Colony and was identified through the polio surveillance network. The case was confirmed by the Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Islamabad, it said in a statement.
The NEOC said the child was malnourished and had fallen victim to virus circulation already present in Karachi.
According to an official of the polio programme, the latest case is the first reported from Karachi since December 2024.
The city has faced intense virus circulation for the past two years, although focused door-to-door vaccination campaigns and improvements in essential immunisation had contributed to a marked reduction in transmission.
Only one environmental surveillance site in Karachi tested positive in September, NEOC said, but vulnerable children remained at risk as long as the virus continued to circulate.
A comprehensive investigation has been launched, while the Polio Eradication Initiative (PEI) is assessing the “best science-based response to tackle and prevent further transmission, including targeted vaccination activities and support to strengthen routine immunisation”.
NEOC also underscored the importance of vaccinating children against the incurable, paralytic disease.
Of the seven cases detected across Pakistan this year, five were from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa — including four from Bannu division — and two from Sindh.
The latest case has emerged about two weeks after this year’s sixth case was reported from KP’s Khyber district, where a seven-year-old boy tested positive for the disease.
Polio is a highly contagious and incurable disease that can cause lifelong paralysis and, in some cases, death. It can, however, be prevented through safe and effective polio vaccines.
Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries where polio is still endemic.
According to NEOC, Pakistan had recorded a 99.8 per cent reduction in polio cases from an estimated 20,000 in the early 1990s to 31 in 2025 and seven so far this year.
Four nationwide polio campaigns have already been conducted in 2026, protecting more than 45 million children multiple times, besides targeted oral and injectable vaccination activities in high-risk areas.
The next subnational campaign is scheduled for Nov 2-8 and will target nearly 24m children in 97 districts, including all districts of Karachi, in synchronisation with Afghanistan.