Poliovirus found in Badin for first time

Islamabad: The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health (NIH) Islamabad has confirmed the detection of Type-1 Wild Poliovirus (WPV1) from a new district, Badin, and six other previously infected districts.

This brings the total count of infected districts for the year 2024 to 30, officials said on Friday.

In Badin, the environmental sample was collected on 7th March 2024 from the ‘Mahwali Dargah Nala’ environmental sample collection site, which is the first positive sample from District Badin since the inception of this ES Site in 2022.

The isolated virus is classified as YB3A cluster and 99.77% genetically linked to the virus detected in an environmental sample in Karachi Central on 15th February 2024.

Poliovirus was also found in Lahore, where the environmental sample was collected on 11th March 2024 from the ‘Outfall Station-G’ environmental sample collection site. This is the 2nd positive sample from District Lahore this year.

The previous positive sample from the district was collected on 8th January 2024.

The isolated virus is classified as YB3A cluster and 99.66% genetically linked to the virus detected in an environmental sample in Karachi East on 11th January 2024.

In Karachi, poliovirus was also found in five environmental samples, one each from districts Malir and South and three samples from the district East of Karachi.

In Chaman, the environmental sample was collected on 9th March 2024 from the ‘Hadi packet’ environmental sample collection site, which is the 6th positive sample from District Chaman this year.