ISLAMABAD: Polio virus has once again started spreading its claws in the country as the crippling disease was detected in 14 sewage samples from seven cities in Pakistan.
According to health ministry sources, the polio-affected provinces include Sindh, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan as the number of polio-positive sewage samples reached 112 in 2023. According to sources, poliovirus is present in the sewage of Karachi, Sukkur, Peshawar, Quetta while tests of sewage in Islamabad, Kohat and Hyderabad have also been positive.
Samples for polio testing were collected from five cities from December 4 to 12, local media quoted the sources as having said.
In Peshawar city’s, Hayatabad, Tajabad, Narekhor, Gulabad, Changi Yusufabad sewage samples tested positive for polio. During 2023, poliovirus was found in Peshawar 29 times. The sewage virus is genetically linked to Afghanistan and Rawalpindi.
Poliovirus is also present in the sewage of Faqirabad area of Kohat. It was found for the third time in a Kohat sewage sample in 2023. Samples for testing were taken from there on 13 December. The genetic linkage of polio in Kohat is Gadap, Karachi.
Sewage samples from Rashid Minhas Road and Machhar Colony in East Karachi also tested positive for polio. The samples from there were collected on December 11 and 12, while the genetic link is from Gadapu and Liaquatabad. In 2023, 13 samples of sewage from East Karachi came back positive for polio.
Poliovirus was confirmed in a sewage sample from Mohammad Khan Colony in Keamari in 2023.
For the last time, poliovirus was found in Keamari sewage with a genetic link to Peshawar.
Haji Mureed Goth’s sewage from central Karachi tested positive for polio, and in 2023 sewage here tested positive for polio for the fourth time, which is genetically linked to east Karachi.
A sewage sample from the Khamiso Goth area in west Karachi has tested positive for polio, just as in 2023, its sewage was found to be positive for polio for the first time. He is genetically related to Gadap.
Jacob Pump and Latifabad sewage samples in Hyderabad tested positive for polio in 2023. Hyderabad sewage has tested positive for polio for the fourth time. The virus is genetically local.
Wastewater from the Maka Pumping Station in Sukkur also tested positive for polio. In 2023, poliovirus with a genetic link to Liaquatabad, Karachi was first found in sewage there.
Poliovirus was also confirmed in a sample of railway bridge sewage in the Quetta area. In 2023, poliovirus was found for the eighth time in Quetta’s sewage. His genetic link comes from the Shaman.
A sewage sample from Islamabad’s Jhangi Syedan area also tested positive for polio with a genetic link to Peshawar for the first time. Of note, six cases of polio were reported in the country during 2023.
