Lahore kids at high risk of poliovirus

Published July 11, 2014
Another sewage sample from city tests positive.—File photo
Another sewage sample from city tests positive.—File photo

LAHORE: The city has turned to be a 'top high risk city of the country' for continuously reporting poliovirus as another sewage sample has been tested positive.

The sample was drawn in June and dispatched to the National Institute of Health (NIH), Islamabad, for analysis. The report issued by the NIH confirmed the presence of the poliovirus in Lahore, an official told Dawn on Thursday.

He said the presence of the poliovirus exposed the performance of the officials of the Directorate of Health Services touting Lahore as poliovirus free city. The Punjab Directorate Health Services is primarily responsible for controlling of the communicable diseases.


Also read: 0.29m children inaccessible to polio teams


Out of the total 11 samples drawn from the province, nine were tested positive in Lahore alone this year, the official said.

He said that the health department had launched five drives in Lahore to immunize the children against the polio disease.

Medical experts say the environmental samples show that the virus circulating in Lahore may put health of a large number of children at risk.

Published in Dawn, July 11th, 2014

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