Pakistan Continues Reporting Wild Polio Patients in 2025

Following a disheartening 2024, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan recently reported three new wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) patients.

As of January 22, 2025, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) confirmed that these WPV1 cases were reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh.

Last year, 73 WPV1 patients were confirmed. 

Of these, 27 were from Balochistan, 22 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 22 from Sindh, and one from Punjab and Islamabad.

Pakistan's National Emergency Operations Centre recently wrote, 'Considering the intense polio outbreak, parents must ensure vaccination for all their children under five to protect them.'

Polio remains a vaccine-preventable but paralyzing disease that has no cure.

There are three serotypes of wild poliovirus. Immunity to one serotype does not confer immunity to the other two.

Type 2 wild poliovirus was declared eradicated in 2015, and type 3 was declared eradicated in 2019. Only type 1 wild poliovirus remains in 2025.

In late December 2024, the GPEI wrote, 'This resurgence of the virus underscores that there is no room for error in an eradication program. To stop wild poliovirus in its last frontier of Pakistan and Afghanistan, the program is working to strengthen cross-border coordination and deliver a broader range of health interventions alongside polio vaccines.'

In 2023, Pakistan reported over 900,000 visitors, a new record for international tourist arrivals.

To alert international travelers of this health risk, the U.S. CDC reissued a Global Polio Travel Health Advisory on January 14, 2025. The CDC says adults who previously completed the full, routine polio vaccine series before traveling to any destination listed may receive a single, lifetime booster dose of polio vaccine.

In the U.S., polio vaccines are offered at travel clinics and pharmacies in 2025.