Water samples collected from major cities of Pakistan indicate that it will take some time to control the spread of polio among children. Seven of the 11 samples showed the presence of the virus strains.
The samples collected and tested by the National Institute of Health's (NIH) Polio Virology Laboratory show that the wild poliovirus (P1) strain exists in all four provinces of the country.
The sewage water samples were collected between August 15 to 25 from Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Peshawar, Lahore, Faisalabad, Multan, Jacobabad, Sukkur, Hyderabad, Karachi and Quetta.
Except samples from Islamabad, Multan, Sukkur and Faisalabad, all samples contained strains of the wild poliovirus. One of Peshawar's samples was clean while the result of the other has yet to be revealed.
The polio virus has three strains - P1, P2 and P3. Immunity from any one strain does not protect a person from the other two.
The sample from Punjab's capital, taken from the main outfall pump station, showed presence of the highly contagious P1 strain. Samples taken from Gulshan-e-Iqbal and Gadap town, Karachi, also show the presence of the wild poliovirus.
To check the virus in Balochistan's capital, samples were taken from Jatak Village and Takhthani by-pass. They too contained the P1 strain.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 24th, 2014.
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