The Kabul Tribune (KT) — Afghanistan has reported four new cases of wild poliovirus type 1, bringing the country’s total to 19 so far this year, according to the World Health Organization.
The new cases were reported in Herat, Paktika and Kandahar
provinces, the WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office said in its Week 32
report, covering the period through Aug. 16.
Two of the cases were recorded in Herat province, in the
districts of Shindand and Adraskan. Another was reported in Dila district of
Paktika province, while the fourth was detected in Arghistan district of
Kandahar province.
The new infections bring the number of confirmed wild
poliovirus type 1 cases in the WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean region to 22 this
year. Afghanistan accounts for 19 of those cases, while Pakistan has reported
three.
The figures mark a shift from the previous two years, when
Pakistan reported substantially more cases than Afghanistan. In 2025,
Afghanistan recorded 21 wild poliovirus cases compared with 31 in Pakistan. In
2024, Afghanistan recorded 25 cases, while Pakistan reported 74.
Afghanistan’s cases this year have been concentrated largely
in the middle months. WHO data show one case with paralysis onset in January,
two in February, two in April, three in May, 10 in June and one in July. The
latest reported case had a paralysis onset date of July 17. No case with an
August onset had been recorded as of Aug. 16.
Environmental surveillance indicates that the virus
continues to circulate in both Afghanistan and Pakistan. Afghanistan has
recorded 58 environmental samples positive for wild poliovirus type 1 this
year, compared with 118 in Pakistan, for a regional total of 176. No new
positive environmental samples were reported during the latest reporting week.
The number of positive environmental samples remains well
below last year’s total in Afghanistan. In 2025, the country recorded 94
positive samples, while Pakistan recorded 651.
Afghanistan also continues to report extensive surveillance
for acute flaccid paralysis, or AFP, a key indicator used to identify possible
polio infections. The country had recorded 4,325 AFP cases through Week 32 this
year, including 19 confirmed wild poliovirus cases. Another 3,366 cases had
been classified as non-polio AFP, while the remainder were pending
classification or fell into other categories.
The country’s annualized non-polio AFP rate stood at 28.61,
while 96% of cases had adequate stool specimens, according to the WHO.
Laboratory surveillance showed 4,495 AFP cases with
specimens in Afghanistan this year. Of those, 118 were referred for intratypic
differentiation, while 595 were classified as non-polio enterovirus only and
2,914 were negative. The report also listed specimens that were pending or
awaiting further classification.
The laboratory data recorded 17 wild poliovirus type 1
detections and 58 Sabin type 1 detections in Afghanistan.
The WHO noted that three wild poliovirus cases in the region
this year — two in Afghanistan and one in Pakistan — were confirmed through
positive contacts even though the initial index cases tested negative for the
virus. Six such cases were recorded in the region in 2025.
Afghanistan’s environmental surveillance also recorded 58
wild poliovirus detections this year, along with 38 Sabin-like type 1 or type 3
detections and 145 non-polio enterovirus detections. The country’s
environmental samples are tested at the Regional Reference Laboratory in
Pakistan.
While wild poliovirus remains a concern, Afghanistan has not
reported a new case of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 since July
2021.
Across the Eastern Mediterranean region, the WHO has
recorded 10 cases of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 this year —
six in Somalia and four in Sudan. Three Sudan cases that had previously been
classified as ambiguous vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 were reclassified as
circulating vaccine-derived infections in the latest report.
The region has also recorded 19 environmental detections of
circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 this year, including 15 in
Somalia, three in Sudan and one in Libya.
The latest WHO figures underscore the continuing circulation
of wild poliovirus in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the only two countries where
wild poliovirus transmission remains endemic. Afghanistan’s 19 confirmed cases
account for most of the region’s 22 cases reported so far in 2026, while
environmental surveillance continues to detect the virus in both countries.
