Wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) has been detected in sewage samples from a new district, Hub, and three previously infected districts of Sindh.

According to the Regional Reference Lab for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health, sewage samples collected from Karachi South, Karachi Central, Jamshoro and Hub between April 3 and April 17 contained poliovirus which was genetically linked to the imported YB3A genetic cluster of WPV1.

The virus has been found in sewage samples of 34 districts so far this year. All positive samples and the two human cases reported in 2024 contain the YB3A cluster, which disappeared from Pakistan in 2021, remained in circulation in Afghanistan and was reintroduced through cross-border transmission last year.

The Pakistan Polio Programme has conducted four polio vaccination campaigns this year, including two nationwide campaigns that reached over 43 million children under the age of five with the oral polio vaccine in January and February. The next campaign is planned in the first week of June, ahead of the high travel season of Eid.

Polio is a devastating incurable disease. The Polio Programme urge all parents and caregivers to ensure that their children are vaccinated against at every opportunity and have completed all routine vaccinations to ensure that they are protected from 12 vaccine-preventable diseases.