Health officials report detection of Wild Polio Virus 1 in Sialkot sewage

ISLAMABAD: Following the detection of Wild Polio Virus 1 in the environmental samples of eight cities of Pakistan, now WPV1 has been detected in the sewage of the industrial city of Sialkot, officials in the National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination (NHS,R&C) confirmed to The News on Thursday, fearing that it could further lead to spreading of poliovirus in the country.

“Today, Wild Polio Virus 1 has been detected in the sewage of Sialkot city of Punjab, indicating that the virus is rapidly spreading in different cities of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab. So far, Wild Polio Virus 1 has been detected in the environmental samples of 9 cities of the country including the capital Islamabad”, an official in the federal capital told The News.

Pakistan has so far reported 14 polio cases in 2022 with 13 cases from North Waziristan alone but experts fear with the detection of poliovirus from the sewage in nine major cities of KP, Punjab and the capital, it is only a matter of time that poliovirus can start crippling children in the densely populated cities of the country. “Last month, Wild Polio Virus was detected in the sewage of Peshawar, Bannu, Nowshera and Swat in Khyber Paktunkhwa, capital Islamabad as well as Rawalpindi and Lahore in Punjab”, the official, who is not authorized to talk to media, said. In August alone, he said, Wild Polio Virus 1 has been detected in the environmental samples of Rawalpindi, Bahawalpur and now in Sialkot, the official said, adding that results of various cities of Sindh, Balochistan and other parts of the country are being awaited.

When asked as to why poliovirus has not yet been detected in Sindh and Balochistan, especially in Karachi, the official said due to heavy monsoon rains, sewage gets diluted so the chances of detection of poliovirus in the sewage become very rare. “Samples from the sewage of a particular area collected before 10 in the morning. But if it is raining heavily like in the case of Karachi, other cities of Sindh and Balochistan, detection of poliovirus in the sewage samples becomes very difficult as it gets diluted”, the official added.

Terming the presence of Wild Polio Virus 1 in the sewage samples of nine major cities of Pakistan, the official said it indicates that the virus has spread to the entire Pakistan from North Waziristan and feared that it could lead to serious consequences for the country. “It is now a matter of weeks when we would be seeing polio cases from different cities of the country including Punjab, which used to be relatively free of polio”, the official said and added that an emergency needs to be declared in the country to prevent children from getting crippled by the dreaded virus.

It is worth mentioning here that Pakistan has so far spent around $5 billion for polio eradication since the early ‘90s and billions of doses of Oral Polio Vaccine have been administered to children to get the country rid of the polio virus.