PAKISTAN'S. -''POLIO''- PARAGRAPH : PRECIS

 

Pakistan seemed close to beating polio. Now it's spreading : For a brief moment two years ago, Pakistan seemed finally on the verge of defeating polio. One of only two countries in the world where the virus remains endemic.

Pakistan recorded no new infections for a little over a year starting in 2021 - the longest virus-free stretch the country had ever experienced.

But since then. polio has roared back, spreading beyond its traditional hot spot to areas once largely untouched by the virus.

This month, health officials reported the first polio case in the capital Islamabad, in 16 years. Also this month, environmental monitoring detected the polio virus in sewage samples from several major cities,  including Peshawar and Karachi, Pakistan's largest city, where millions live in crowded, unsanitary slums.

The World Students Society thanks Zia-ur-Rehman and Christina Goldbaum.