Two sites test positive for poliovirus

LAHORE:

Punjab is set to launch a large-scale response after two of Lahore's polio environmental sample sites tested positive on Monday.

The National Emergency Operations Centre had initially approved a response in the Lahore division alone, but due to the high-risk mobile population, the response has been expanded to include Rawalpindi, Gujranwala and Okara cities.

The response is set to begin on February 13.

Punjab is focusing on three high-risk districts of Lahore, Rawalpindi and Faisalabad, which are home to approximately 40% of high-risk mobile population of children.

The Emergency Operations Centre Coordinator, Khizer Afzaal, had called on parents to ensure that their children were vaccinated in the upcoming campaigns.

This January, two of the six permanent environmental sample sites in Lahore tested positive, indicating that the virus is circulating.

Even though no polio case has been reported in Punjab so far, the positive environmental samples are a warning to all parents to vaccinate their children with two doses of polio every time it is offered.

Government’s surveillance for acute flaccid paralysis is considered the “gold standard” for polio surveillance, but environmental surveillance can also serve as an early warning system in areas where high-risk groups, such as the mobile population and under- or un-immunized populations reside.

The PEOC is tracking and vaccinating the “not available” children, especially from the high-risk mobile populations, to prevent reinfection from the infected zones.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, February 1^st, 2023.