Karachi Reports First Polio Case Since December 2024 as Six-Month-Old Tests Positive and Pakistan’s Tally Reaches Seven

KARACHI: After almost two years without a case, polio has surfaced in Karachi again. A six-month-old boy from Union Council Jamali Colony in the city’s East district has tested positive for wild poliovirus, the National Emergency Operations Centre said on Monday. It is Karachi’s first reported case since December 2024, and it takes Pakistan’s tally for the year to seven.

Picked up by surveillance, confirmed in Islamabad

The child was identified through the country’s polio surveillance network, and the Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institutes of Health in Islamabad confirmed the result. The centre said the boy was malnourished and had been infected by virus already circulating in Karachi. The city saw intense circulation over the past two years, though focused door-to-door campaigns and better routine immunisation had sharply reduced transmission. Only one environmental surveillance site in Karachi tested positive in September — but, officials warned, vulnerable children stay at risk for as long as the virus keeps moving.

Seven cases, five of them in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Of this year’s seven cases, five have come from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, four of them from Bannu division, and two from Sindh. The numbers sit against a long decline the programme points to with pride: from an estimated 20,000 cases a year in the early 1990s down to 31 in 2025 — a 99.8 per cent reduction. Four nationwide campaigns this year have already reached more than 45 million children, several times over.

Investigation under way, November round next

A comprehensive investigation has been launched, and the Polio Eradication Initiative is weighing what it called the best science-based response, including targeted vaccination and support for routine immunisation. The next subnational campaign runs from November 2 to 8 in 97 districts, including every district of Karachi, in synchronisation with Afghanistan. Pakistan and Afghanistan remain the only two countries where polio is still endemic, which is why the centre repeated its appeal to parents: make sure every child gets the drops, every time.