Afghan poliovirus found in Peshawar sewage sample again

ISLAMABAD: Wild Poliovirus 1, which is genetically linked to the virus detected in Nazyan area of Nangarhar province of Afghanistan, has been detected in the environmental (sewage) samples of Naray Khuwar area of Peshawar for the fifth consecutive time, officials said on Thursday.

“Pakistan’s National Polio Laboratory at the National Institute of Health, Islamabad has confirmed the detection of Type-1 Wild Poliovirus (WPV1) in an environmental (sewage) sample collected from district Peshawar in August 2023. The environmental (sewage) sample was collected on August 1, 2023 from the ‘Naray Khuwar’ environmental sample collection site,” an official in the Pakistan’s polio eradication program said.

This new detection takes the total number of positive environmental (sewage) samples in Pakistan in 2023 to 15. The number of human polio cases in Pakistan in 2023 remains two (reported from Bannu on February 20 and July 11, 2023), the official added.

The official further said this is the fifth consecutive positive sample from this particular site and the seventh positive sample from district Peshawar at large this year, adding that the previous positive sample from the district was collected on July 17, 2023 from the ‘Shaheen Muslim Town’ site.

“The isolated virus is classified as YB3A cluster and 98.56pc genetically linked to the virus detected in a polio case in Nazyan (Nangarhar), Afghanistan which had onset of paralysis of May 8, 2023,” the official said, adding that the recent polio vaccination campaign (fractional IPV+OPV) in district Peshawar was conducted on August 7-13, 2023.

Commenting on the situation, Federal Health Secretary Iftikhar Shallwani said efforts were being made to eradicate polio from Pakistan as polio vaccination drives were being planned throughout the country. He also urged the people to get their children vaccinated against polio.

“Parents should get their children vaccinated and give them two drops of polio vaccine whenever a polio team visits their home,” Iftikhar Shallwani said, adding that it was the only way to prevent children from permanent paralysis.