Pakistan Reports Second Polio Case of 2025

The National Emergency Operations Centre confirmed Pakistan's second wild poliovirus case of 2025.

The year in context

2025 closed with 31 confirmed wild poliovirus cases. Set against 2024's total of 74, that is a reduction of well over half in a single year — the result of intensified campaign rounds, expanded transit point vaccination and renewed access negotiation after the 2024 resurgence.

Set against 2021's single case, however, 31 is a long way from where the programme needs to be. Both comparisons are legitimate, and the programme has consistently made both.

Early-season cases as a warning signal

Transmission in Pakistan follows a seasonal curve, rising through the second half of the year. Cases confirmed in the first months indicate that the virus survived the low season — which means population immunity was not high enough in that area to extinguish the chain when conditions were least favourable to the virus.

That makes early cases disproportionately informative. They tell the programme where to concentrate before the high season arrives, rather than after.

Where a case leads

Each confirmation sets off the same sequence: emergency house-to-house vaccination around the case, reconstruction of the child's vaccination history, an active search for unreported paralysis in the surrounding community, expanded sewage sampling, and genetic sequencing of the isolated virus to establish how it is related to strains found elsewhere.

Sequencing matters more than it sounds. It shows whether a case represents virus that has been circulating locally and undetected, or virus recently imported from another district or across the border — and those two findings call for different responses.

The underlying number

Almost every child paralysed by polio in Pakistan was unvaccinated or under-vaccinated. That is the figure the programme tracks most closely: not how many houses were visited, but how many children were actually missed, and in which union councils, round after round.

For parents

Two drops for every child under five in every campaign round, including children vaccinated in the previous round. Complete the routine immunisation schedule, which is what provides lasting protection. If no team reaches your household, call the toll-free helpline on 1166.

Related: cases by province · surveillance · polio FAQs