Pakistan Reports Fourth Polio Case of 2024

Pakistan's National Emergency Operations Centre confirmed the country's fourth wild poliovirus type 1 case of 2024. At the time it was an early-season announcement. In hindsight it marked the opening phase of the worst year Pakistan had recorded since 2019.

The year this case belonged to

2024 ended with 74 confirmed wild poliovirus cases, up from six in 2023. The distribution was unusually wide for recent years: 27 cases in Balochistan, 23 in Sindh, 22 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and one each in Punjab and Islamabad. Transmission was not confined to the traditional core reservoirs — it had spread.

Early-season case confirmations matter for exactly this reason. Poliovirus transmission in Pakistan follows a seasonal pattern, building through the high season in the second half of the year. Cases appearing early usually signal that the virus overwintered successfully, which predicts a heavy year ahead.

What a confirmation actually involves

Every child under 15 with sudden onset of floppy paralysis is investigated and stool samples are collected and sent to the WHO-accredited Regional Reference Laboratory at the National Institute of Health in Islamabad. Only laboratory confirmation makes a case official, which is why announcements typically follow the onset of paralysis by several weeks.

What follows a confirmed case

• Immediate house-to-house vaccination in the affected union council and surrounding area.
• Investigation of the child's vaccination history — in the large majority of Pakistani cases, the paralysed child was unvaccinated or under-vaccinated.
• An active search for other paralysis cases in the same community.
• Additional environmental sampling to map how far the virus has already travelled.

Why one case means many infections

Roughly one poliovirus infection in two hundred causes paralysis. A single confirmed case therefore implies that a large number of children in that community were already infected without visible symptoms. The child who is paralysed is the one the programme can see; the response is aimed at the ones it cannot.

For parents

Two drops of oral polio vaccine in every campaign round, for every child under five, every time — plus the full routine immunisation schedule. If a vaccination team does not reach your household, call the Sehat Tahaffuz helpline on 1166, which is toll-free.

Related: district-wise cases · cases by province · polio FAQs