Pakistan reports 5th polio case of 2024

Pakistan reported the fifth polio case so far this year after a child was paralyzed in Quetta city of southwest Balochistan province and eventually died, the Pakistani Health Ministry said Saturday.The affected two-year-old child developed an onset of paralysis on April 29 in his legs, the ministry said in a statement, adding that “he became progressively ill with weakness spreading to his arms, and unfortunately passed away in a hospital in the southern port city of Karachi a few weeks later.”The samples taken from him, his brother, and his cousin, who live in the same house, confirmed the presence of wild poliovirus type 1, said the statement.The virus isolated from the samples belongs to the imported YB3A cluster of WPV1, it added.The government is focusing its efforts on closing the outbreak and enhancing polio vaccine and routine vaccination coverage rates in the province to ensure strengthened immunity for children, the ministry said.More than 50 environmental samples have tested positive for poliovirus this year in Balochistan, including 21 from the provincial capital Quetta alone, according to the statement.In 2024, four cases have been detected from Balochistan while the other one came from the southern Sindh province.  AGENCIES