Poliovirus detected in environmental sample in Karachi

The National Polio Laboratory at the National Institute of Health in Islamabad announced on Thursday that a Type-1 Wild Poliovirus (WPV1) has been confirmed in an environmental sample collected from Karachi's East District in May.

Health department officials verified that the sewage sample was obtained on May 15 from Sohrab Goth, which serves as an environmental sample collection site. They further revealed that this marks the first positive environmental sample from the Karachi division this year.

“This is the first positive environmental sample from Karachi division of the year so far,” they confirmed.

The last positive sample from the Karachi division was collected in August 2022 from the Landhi area, the environmental sample collection site located in Malir district. Prior to that, a positive sample from the same site was detected in December 2020.

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The detection of the poliovirus in the region raises concerns, as the last reported case of Wild Poliovirus from Karachi East dates back to September 2018. Efforts to eradicate polio in Pakistan have been ongoing, with vaccination campaigns regularly carried out to immunise children against the disease.

The most recent polio vaccination campaign in the district took place from May 15 to May 21. The results of genetic sequencing, which could shed light on the origin and characteristics of the virus, are currently pending.

Qasim Siraj Soomro, the Parliamentary Secretary on Health, assured the public that proactive measures have been taken. "We have already conducted campaigns in these areas, targeting missing children and implementing zero-dose campaigns," he stated.

Soomro also mentioned that the environmental sample is suspected to have links with Afghanistan and has been sent to Atlanta, USA for further authentication.

Polio is a highly infectious and incurable disease caused by poliovirus, which mainly affects children under the age of five. The virus invades the nervous system and can cause paralysis or even death in some cases.

Vaccination drives are the most-effective way to protect children. Except for Afghanistan and Pakistan, all other countries are polio-free. Pakistan collects environmental samples from 114 sites in 80 districts every month to test for WPV1.