QUETTA: Poliovirus has been detected in fresh sewage samples retrieved from Qila Abdullah, indicating that the crippling disease is still endemic in the province.

The Technical Advisory Group (TAG), a global body for polio, has recommended to the provincial government to focus on vaccination efforts on Qila Abdullah, the most sensitive district in the province.

The World Health Organisation’s (WHO) doctors collected samples from the sewage drains of Qila Abdullah district that abuts Afghanistan, last month.

“The samples had been collected from sewerage drains in Chaman and laboratory tests confirmed the poliovirus still exists in the environment of the border city,” a source in the emergency operation centre for polio confirmed.

“The report indicates the vulnerable condition of fresh polio cases in the region. The provincial government should take immediate steps to halt the spread of the virus,” TAG said in a statement.

Seven polio cases have been reported from Balochistan of which two were from Qila Abdullah.

A three-day anti-polio campaign is scheduled from Feb 15 to 17 in 15 districts of Balochistan. Around 1,634,261 children below the age of five years will be vaccinated.

Published in Dawn, February 9th, 2016