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       ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has reported another polio case, bringing the total number of cases for the current year to 49.

       According to an official of the Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health confirmed that a 15-month-old male child in Jaffarabad district of Balochistan was diagnosed with wild poliovirus (WPV1).

       “Genetic sequencing of the virus isolated from the child’s samples shows that it is genetically linked to WPV1 detected in Pishin in April 2024.

       This is the first polio case reported from Jaffarabad which shares a border with Nasirabad and Jhal Magsi districts in Balochistan and Jacobabad and Qambar districts in Sindh, all of which have reported WPV1 in sewage samples or human cases in recent months, indicating wider circulation of the virus,“ he said.

       Published in Dawn, November 15th, 2024