ISLAMABAD: The National Institute of Health Islamabad’s regional reference laboratory for polio eradication has confirmed that nine environmental (sewage) samples gathered from various regions of the nation have tested positive for poliovirus.
The News claims that samples were taken in December 2023 from Quetta, Hub, Mastung, Dera Ismail Khan, Peshawar, Nowshera, Karachi South, Karachi Malir, Multan, and Quetta South. The samples tested positive for Type-1 Wild Poliovirus (WPV1).
The environmental sample for Multan was taken on December 18, 2023, at the Ali Town environmental sample collecting site. This is the district’s first positive sample for 2023.
The sixth positive sample from District South was obtained in Karachi South on December 20, 2023, from the Manzoor Colony environmental sample collection location.
The environmental sample for Malir Karachi was taken on December 19, 2023, at the Landhi Bakhtawar environmental sample collecting site. This is the district’s second positive sample for 2023.
The thirty-ninth positive sample from the district of Peshawar in 2023 was taken on December 19, 2023, at the environmental sample collecting location in Shaheen Muslim Town.
The second positive sample from District Nowshera in 2023 was taken on December 18, 2023, from the Mill Colony environmental sample collecting site in Nowshera.
The second positive sample from District was taken on December 20, 2023, in Dera Ismail Khan, from the Sherpao & Zafarabad environmental sample collection location.
This is the ninth positive sample from the Quetta area in 2023; it was taken on December 18, 2023, at the Surpul environmental sample collection site.
The district of Hub received its third positive environmental sample of 2023 on December 18, 2023, from the Jumma Khan Bazar environmental sample collection location.
The first positive environmental sample from District Mastung in 2023 was taken on December 19, 2023, at the Adalatabad environmental sample collection location in Mastung.
A YB3A cluster is assigned to the isolated virus that was extracted from every sample of the surrounding environment. With these additional discoveries, Pakistan will have 124 positive environmental (sewage) sample results by 2023.
