Poliovirus detected in two samples from KP: officials

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s National Polio Laboratory Islamabad has confirmed the detection of Type-1 Wild Poliovirus (WPV1) in two more environmental samples collected this month from Swat and Peshawar, officials said on Saturday.

“The new positive environmental samples have been detected from Peshawar and Swat. This is the 5th positive sample from Peshawar and the 4th positive sample from Swat, this year”, an official of the National Institute of Health (NIH) Islamabad said, adding that the total number of positive environmental samples in 2022 is 29.

It is worth mentioning that Wild Poliovirus 1 has so far crippled 20 children in Pakistan, of which some of them died as the poliovirus also paralyzed their respiratory muscles.

Nineteen positive environmental samples were detected from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa including eight from Bannu, five from Peshawar, four from Swat, and one each from Nowshera and South Waziristan, eight positive samples from Punjab including three each from Lahore and Rawalpindi and one each from Bahawalpur and Sialkot and one positive sample each from Sindh (Karachi, Landhi) and Islamabad.

One positive environmental sample was detected in April, two in May, one in June, seven on July, 15 in August and three in September 2022, the official said adding that in 2021, 65 positive environmental samples were detected in the country.

Giving the details of the new positive environmental sample from Peshawar, the official said the environmental sample was collected on 16th September 2022 from the ‘Naray Khuwar Site’. This is the 5th positive environmental sample from the district in 2022. One positive sample was detected in July 2022 and two each in August 2022 and September 2022. The last Wild Poliovirus case from the district was reported in July 2020.

The recent Polio campaign in the district was conducted on 21 – 26 September (mop-up in 40 UCs). The next campaign would be conducted from 24th October.