The regional reference laboratory for polio eradication at the National Institute of Health (NIH) has confirmed the detection of three wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases in Pakistan.

With the report of fresh cases, the number of total cases in the country this year reached 55.

On Saturday, the lab confirmed the case from DI Khan and Zhob districts, where female children are affected, and Jaffarabad district where a male child is affected.

DI Khan, one of the seven polio-endemic districts of southern KP, has reported six polio cases while this is the third case this year from Zhob and the second from Jaffarabad.

Pakistan is responding to an intense resurgence of WPV1 this year with 55 cases reported so far. Of these, 26 are from Balochistan, 14 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 13 from Sindh, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.

Polio, a paralysing disease, has no cure. Multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine and completion of the routine vaccination schedule for all children under the age of five is essential to provide children high immunity against this terrible disease.