17th polio case detected in Pakistan before nationwide drive
IV Report KARACHI: Ahead of a massive oral polio vaccination drive from September 9, Pakistan reported its 17 th confirmed polio case for 2024, with detection of paralysis in an eight-year old boy located in a village of the capital city, Islamabad, on September 6. According to health authorities, the virus detected in the boy genetically matched with an imported cluster (YB3A) which was detected in sewage samples collected about four months back in Lakki Marwat district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Last time, Lakki Marwat reported two of the 19 cases of the province in 2022, following 12 cases in 2020 and 32 cases in 2019. The designated national diagnostic laboratory has declared three samples from the contacts of the latest infected child negative for polio virus. The in question child’s family is reportedly permanent reside...