Poliovirus alarmingly resurges in Hyderabad

Another immunisation campaign likely next month

HYDERABAD:

Three more environmental samples of polio virus, taken from the drainage pumping stations of Hyderabad this month, have been tested positive, taking the total positive samples from the city to 11 in six months.

The worrying development follows an arguably short of successful immunisation campaign in Hyderabad in which around 17,000 children of up to five years of age could not be given the anti-polio drops. The figure includes the refusal cases.

The first of the three positive samples was collected on June 3 from Tulsidas pumping station in a downtown of City taluka. "The isolated virus is classified as YB3A cluster and 99.8% genetically linked to the virus detected in an environmental sample in the same district on May 8," the report stated.

The second positive sample was collected on June 4 from Qadir Nagar pumping station in the SITE area. The report also catalogued it as YB3A similar to a sample found in Quetta on November 20, 2023.

The third positive sample, collected on June 5 from a pumping station in Latifabad Unit No9. It was also classified as YB3A and is 99.66% linked to a sample earlier collected from Hyderabad on May 6. Interestingly, the samples taken for lab tests from the same three pumping stations in May this year also tested positive.

A sample collected from KB Feeder drain in Jamshoro district on June 4 has also emerged positive and it is 99.22% identical to a sample from Hyderabad taken on November 8, 2023. A health official, who claimed anonymity, said the environmental samples clearly indicate that polio-infected children are present in the city. "They might be permanently living in Hyderabad or may be temporarily visiting but the fact is that they have been to the city."

In the wake of the recurrent emergence of the positive samples, the health authorities are planning a renewed immunisation campaign in July.