Islamabad, Feb 22 (PTI) Pakistan health authorities on Saturday confirmed the third poliovirus case of the year in the country as the crippling virus continues to play havoc despite efforts to eradicate it.

The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health here in a statement said the new case detected in the Larkana district of Sindh province was "the third wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) case of 2025”.

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“This is the second polio case reported from Sindh this year, bringing the total number of cases to two in Sindh and one in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,” according to the statement.

Last year, a total of 74 cases were reported. Of these, 27 were from Balochistan, 22 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 23 from Sindh, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.

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Polio is a paralysing disease that has no cure and only multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine and completion of the routine vaccination schedule for all children under the age of five can provide children with high immunity against this terrible disease.

Pakistan through its anti-polio vaccination programme conducts multiple mass vaccination drives in a year, bringing the vaccine to children at their doorsteps, while the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) provides vaccinations against 12 childhood diseases free of charge at health facilities.

The first nationwide polio campaign of 2025 conducted from February 3 to 9 was successfully concluded with 99 per cent of the targets achieved across the country.

During this campaign, more than 45 million children were administered the polio vaccine.

A second round of the Big Catch-Up activity is currently underway in the country, to vaccinate children up to 5 years with EPI antigens, according to the statement.

Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only countries in the world where poliovirus is still rampant. The main reason is the refusal on the part of parents who, under the influence of extremists, believe the vaccine was a conspiracy to sterilise Muslims.

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