Sunday, October 22, 2023
Samples collected from 11 locations in all four provinces.
In Balochistan, poliovirus is found in Pishin, Chaman and Quetta.
The new detections take the total number of positive samples in 2023 to 54.
ISLAMABAD: Poliovirus has been detected in environmental samples collected from 11 more sites in all four provinces, officials of the country's polio eradication program told The News on Saturday, just a day after the infectious disease left a fourth child paralyzed in the country.
"The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health, Islamabad confirmed the detection of wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) in 11 environmental (wastewater) samples collected in October 2023 (four from Peshawar, three from Quetta Block, two from Karachi and one each from Bannu & Lahore),” an official associated with the polio program told The News.
In Balochistan, poliovirus was found in Pishin, Chaman and Quetta, the official said, adding that in Pishin, an environmental sample (Grab) was collected on October 2, 2023 from the environmental sampling site "Turwa". This is the second positive sample from Pishin district this year. The isolated virus is classified as cluster YB3A and is 99.4% genetically related to the virus detected in an environmental sample in Kandahar (Afghanistan) on 21 May 2023.
In Chaman, an environmental sample (Grab) was collected on 2 October 2023 from the 'Army Kaziba' environmental sampling site. This is the second positive sample from Chaman district this year. The isolated virus is classified as cluster YB3A and is 99.89% genetically related to the virus detected in an environmental sample in Dera Bugti on 18 September 2023.
The official said that in Quetta, an environmental sample (BMFS) was collected on October 3, 2023 from environmental sampling point "Surpul". This is the first positive sample this year from Quetta district. The isolated virus is classified as cluster YB3A and is 99.77% genetically related to the virus detected in an environmental sample in Dera Bugti on 18 September 2023.
In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, poliovirus was detected at the environmental sampling site "Hinjil Noorabad" in Bannu, the second positive sample from Bannu district this year. In addition, three cases of human polio were also reported from Bannu district this year. The isolated virus is classified as cluster YB3C and is 99.4% genetically related to the virus detected in an environmental sample in the same district i.e. Bannu on 21 September 2023.
Similarly, poliovirus was detected at four sites 'Naray Khuwar', 'Hayatabad 1&2', 'Yousafabad & Tajabad' and 'Gulabad & Chungee' in the composite environmental sample collection sites. In Karachi, an environmental sample (Grab) was collected on 3 October 2023 from the 'Orangi Nala' environmental sampling site, the third positive sample from Keamari this year. Similarly, in District Karachi Central, environmental sample (BMFS) was collected on 4 October 2023 from environmental sampling point “Haji Mureed Goth”.
"This is the second positive sample from Karachi Central district this year. The isolated virus is classified as cluster YB3A and is 99.77% genetically related to the virus detected in an environmental sample from the same district (Karachi Central) on 7 September 2023," said the official.
In Lahore, an environmental sample (BMFS) was collected on October 2, 2023 from environmental sampling point 'Gulshan-e-Ravi', the official said, adding that this is the sixth positive sample from Lahore district this year. "The isolated virus is classified as cluster YB3A and is 99.5% genetically related to the virus detected in an environmental sample in the same district (i.e. Lahore) on August 15, 2023," the official said.
These new detections bring the total number of positive environmental (wastewater) samples in Pakistan in 2023 to 54. While the number of human polio cases in Pakistan in 2023 is four.
