QALA-I-NAW (Pajhwok): The first case of poliovirus in 2025 has been registered in northwestern Badghis province, an official announced on Saturday.
Mohammad Yousuf Najmi, the director- general of mass immunisation at the Public Health Department, told Pajhwok Afghan News: “A positive polio case has recently been recorded in the Qaroto area of Bala Murghab district.”
He said the poliovirus was detected in a five-year-old girl. “The suspected sample was collected in January and confirmed positive after testing.”
Last year, an environmental polio sample taken from a sewage well in Qala-i-Naw, the provincial capital, had also tested positive.
The first round of the polio vaccination campaign was conducted in January, and the second phase is set to begin in two days in the province.
According to doctors, polio is a viral disease that causes permanent paralysis in children, has no cure and can only be prevented through vaccination.
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