According to the News, the Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health Islamabad has confirmed the detection of Type-1 Wild Poliovirus (WPV1) in nine environmental (sewage) samples collected in December 2023.
The poliovirus was detected in the environmental samples from Multan, Karachi South, Karachi Malir, Peshawar, Nowshera, Dera Ismail Khan, Quetta, Hub and Mastung.
In Multan, the environmental sample was collected on December 18, 2023 from the ‘Ali Town’ environmental sample collection site, which is the first positive sample from District Multan in 2023.
In Karachi South, the environmental sample was collected on December 20, 2023 from the ‘Manzoor Colony’ environmental sample collection site, which is the sixth positive sample from District South in 2023.
As far as Malir Karachi is concerned, the environmental sample was collected on December 19, 2023 from the ‘Landhi Bakhtawar’ environmental sample collection site, which is the second positive sample from District Malir in 2023.
In Peshawar, the environmental sample was collected on December 19, 2023 from the ‘Shaheen Muslim Town’ environmental sample collection site, which is the 30th positive sample from district Peshawar in 2023.
The environmental sample in Nowshera was collected on December 18, 2023 from the ’Mill Colony” environmental sample collection site, which is the second positive sample from District Nowshera in 2023.
In Dera Ismail Khan, the environmental sample was collected on December 20, 2023 from the ‘Sherpao & Zafarabad” environmental sample collection site, which is the second positive sample from District Dera Ismail Khan in 2023.
The environmental sample in Quetta was collected on December 18, 2023 from the ‘Surpul’ environmental sample collection site, which is the 9th positive sample from district Quetta in 2023.
In Hub, the environmental sample was collected on December 18, 2023 from the ‘Jumma Khan Bazar” environmental sample collection site, which is the third positive sample from district Hub in 2023.
In Mastung, the environmental sample was collected on December 19, 2023 from the ‘Adalatabad’ environmental sample collection site, which is the first positive sample from District Mastung in 2023.
The isolated virus collected from all the environmental samples is classified as YB3A cluster. These new detections take the total number of positive environmental (sewage) samples in Pakistan in 2023 to 124.
Acknowledgement: Published in Daily The News on Jan 19, 2024