ISLAMABAD: Another environmental (sewage) sample from Karachi has been found positive for polio which raised the current year’s tally for Pakistan to 55, according to sources in the National Polio Laboratory at the National Institute of Health (NIH).

The sources said the lab confirmed detection of ‘Type-1 Wild Poliovirus (WPV1)’ in environmental sample collected from Karachi.

“The genome sequencing of the virus showed that it belonged to Afghanistan,” an official at the lab said. “Samples of sewage water from the area are a basic parameter to determine success of anti-polio campaigns. Moreover, the presence of virus in sewage also shows that the immunity level of children in the area has fallen and that they are at risk of catching the disease,” he said.

The fresh detection took the total number of positive environmental (sewage) samples in Pakistan in 2023 to 55 while the number of human polio cases this year remained four, he said.

Published in Dawn, November 3rd, 2023