Health officials confirmed the infection in an 18-month-old child from Union Council Amakhel in Tank district, South Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, on Friday, marking Pakistan’s 13th polio case of the year.
In addition to confirming a prior incidence of wild poliovirus in a 33-month-old boy from Bannu district, also in KP, the Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Islamabad, confirmed the most recent case.
With the addition of the most recent case, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has now reported seven illnesses this year, more than any other province.
Access to certain parts of southern KP is still restricted, which presents a significant obstacle to house-to-house vaccination campaigns, according to the National Polio Emergency Operation Centre (EOC).
