PAKISTAN’S prime minister said he will chair an emergency meeting of a national task force for polio eradication today, after authorities detected the first case of the debilitating neurodegenerative disease in the country in 15 months.

Health officials announced the discovery of the wild polio case yesterday, saying a 15-month-old boy has been paralysed by the virus in the north-western district of North Waziristan.

“Deeply saddened to share that a 15-month-old boy has been paralysed in North Waziristan,” tweeted Shahzad Baig, a coordinator with the National Emergency Operations Centre for the polio eradication programme in the country.

“Pakistan confirms a wild #poliovirus case after nearly 15 months.”

Pakistan’s last case was detected in January 2021, and authorities celebrated going 12 months without a single case earlier this year – the first time that has occurred since eradication efforts started.

Pakistan is one of two countries, alongside neighbouring Afghanistan, where polio remains endemic, although case numbers have drastically dropped in recent years.

The North Waziristan case takes the global number of polio cases to three in 2022, with a case also confirmed in Malawi and another in Afghanistan, according to data from the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI).

GPEI said the Malawi case was confirmed in February, although the onset of paralysis came in November 2021.

Pakistan authorities said they are working to ensure the virus does not spread further in the South Asian country.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s office said he will preside over the emergency meeting of the polio eradication task force on Monday.

Nigeria officially eradicated wild polio in 2020. Pakistani officials in February said they are hoping to achieve the same goal in the coming years.

To officially eradicate the disease, a country must be polio-free for three consecutive years. – AFP, April 23, 2022.