Ahmed Mukhtar Naqshbandi
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination in a statement reported the recent detection of wild poliovirus in environmental samples taken from Lahore.
A ministry spokesperson stated this is the first instance of poliovirus detection this year in samples collected from Lahore.
In November 2022, the National Polio Laboratory reported the detection of two cases of the Type-1 Wild Poliovirus (WPV1) in environmental samples that were collected from Faisalabad and Peshawar.
Poliovirus detection reported from across Pakistan
The number of poliovirus’ positive samples in the country has climbed to 34 since the beginning of the year 2022 including six from Peshawar, 10 from Bannu, five from Swat, three each from Lahore and Rawalpindi, one each from South Waziristan, Bahawalpur, Nowshera, Sialkot, Islamabad Faisalabad, and Karachi.
In the year 2021, around 65 positive environmental samples were reported to have been detected in the country.
