Khyber Pakhtunhwa has reported its first poliovirus case while two other children were also diagnosed with the disease pushing the country’s tally to 21 of this year.

The virus has been detected in a 15-month-old boy in Balochistan’s Killa Abdullah, a three-year-old boy in Karachi’s Keamari district and a nine-month-old girl in KP’s Mohmand district.

The virus primarily affects children under the age of five years, who are malnourished or have weak immunity because of being under-vaccinated or not vaccinated for polio and other childhood diseases.

The illness invades the nervous system and causes paralysis or even death. While there is no cure for polio, vaccination is the most effective way to protect children from this crippling disease.

Despite rigorous efforts by the government towards eradication of the disease, Pakistan remains in the grip of poliovirus. It is one of the two remaining polio-endemic countries in the world, along with Afghanistan, and the number of cases on a yearly basis has significantly dropped in the country.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on September 8 launched a special anti-poliovirus campaign to ensure the complete eradication of the crippling disease from the country.

Under the drive, around 286,000 polio workers were slated to administer polio vaccines to some 30 million children under the age of five in the door-to-door campaign from September 9 to 15.

Last month, the Sindh government had also commenced a 10-day immunisation drive against the disease.

The virus’s spread is not limited to these three provinces as Islamabad reported its first polio case in 16 years when the Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio at the National Institute of Health confirmed the detection of the type 1 (WPV1) variant of the disease in a child from Union Council Rural 4 of the federal capital on September 6.

So far, Balochistan has reported the highest number of poliovirus cases with 14 children being affected by the disease. Whereas, Sindh’s tally stands at four and Punjab, Islamabad and KP have reported one case each so far.

Meanwhile, taking action on the first poliovirus case in the KP, KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur has directed the health secretary to immediately suspend the relevant district health officer (DHO) and Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) coordinator.

Furthermore, the chief minister announced that the KP government will provide treatment and support for the polio-affected girl from Mohmand.