Polio virus: CDA denies I-11 water tested positive

Health official says testing procedure was not followed properly.

ISLAMABAD: The capital’s authorities on Tuesday refuted claims that water samples from Sector I-11 were tested positive for the poliovirus.

CDA Health Services Directorate Dr Hasan Orooj told The Express Tribune that he was dissatisfied over the procedure adopted by the polio virology lab at National Institute of Health for collecting the sewerage sample.

He claimed that the container in which the sewerage water was collected was not sterilised properly and was collected in the absence of their team member.



“We are going to retest the water sample in presence of our team members and ensure that the container is sterilised and that the proper procedure is followed,” said Orooj.

However, NIH officials denied Orooj’s allegations, saying for every sampling brand new bottles are used thus there are no chances of contamination.

Orooj further said it was not possible that 11 samples from the same sewage water test negative for the virus and only one tests positive.

“During the anti-polio drives, we make complete efforts to vaccinate every child under the age of five in the capital and each time our coverage result has been 100 per cent,” he said.

On the other hand, the prime minster’s polio cell has written a letter to the CDA and Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Administration expressing grave concern over the detection of poliovirus in sewerage sample from I-11.

Prime Minister’s Focal Person for Polio Eradication Ayesha Raza Farooq, while talking to The Express Tribune, said the detection was alarming and worrisome.

“The polio cell writes a letter to the officials concerned at the end of every nationwide anti-polio drive, however, this time we have expressed grave concern over the presence of poliovirus in the sewerage water of Islamabad,” she said.

“It is too early to tell where the virus had originated from as the genetic sequencing of the collected samples has yet to take place and will take some time,” she said, explaining that most of the people living in the areas are migrants.

She further said one of the results of a quality assurance sampling test carried out in the capital, after the end of this year’s first nationwide anti-polio drive, was unsatisfactory.

“We have expressed our concern over it and directed officials to improve it,” she said.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 11^th, 2015.