The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health confirmed the detection of Type-1 Wild Poliovirus in Dukki and Killa Saifullah said a lab official on condition of anonymity.
This brings the total count of infected districts for the year 2024 to 44 he said adding The districts from where positive samples have been reported are Dukki, Killa Saifullah, Sibi, and Swabi.
It may be recalled that Sibi and Swabi are already listed as the infected districts.
A day ago it reported that the virus had been found in samples taken from Bahawalpur and Dera Ismail Khan districts.
A 2-year-old boy from Bharkan union council in Sindh’s Shikarpur district became the latest victim.
The health department official said the virus was detected in stool samples collected from a child adding that he had developed symptoms of paralysis on May 21.
This is the fourth polio case in 2024 as Pakistan had earlier reported three cases. All of the previous three cases reported this year were from Balochistan.
Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries in the world where the poliovirus, which causes paralysis and can be a life-threatening disease is endemic.