Authorities seem to be losing battle against polio
A health worker administers polio vaccine drops to a child during a door-to-door polio vaccination campaign. PHOTO: AFP
The authorities in Hyderabad seem to be losing battle against the presence of polio virus as 17 environmental samples and a child have been tested positive so far this year. According to lab report, the samples collected from Tulsidas and Qadir drainage pumping stations in Hyderabad on August 8 and 12, respectively, have been tested positive.
The two stations are repeatedly showing presence of the virus. The virus in the Tulsidas sample is classified as YB3A-4B cluster and it is 99.66% genetically linked to the virus detected in an environmental sample in Hyderabad on May 8.
The virus surfacing from the city's other pumping station is classified as YB3A-4B cluster and 99.77% genetically linked to the virus detected in an environmental sample in Badin on August 6.
Meanwhile, Sukkur district's 10th environmental sample and Jamshoro district's sixth have also been tested positive since January this year. The samples were taken on August 7 and August 12 from Makka pumping station in Sukkur and KB Feeder drain in Jamshoro. The isolated virus found in Sukkur has two different clusters. The YB3A-4A cluster is 99.66% genetically linked to a virus detected in an environmental sample in Jacobabad on April 2 and YB3A-4B cluster is 99.89% genetically linked to the virus detected in an environmental sample in Karachi West on July 2. Likewise, the virus found from KB Feeder drain in Jamshoro is 99.77% linked a virus detected in Karachi South on July 4.
On August 22, a 29 months old child was tested positive with the polio virus, becoming the city's first case in 2024. The child lives in UC 50 Pareetabad and the case has been officially dubbed as a resident virus.