Polio virus found in test of sewage samples from Rawalpindi, other cities

Sewage samples from Rawalpindi and Lahore in Punjab, Sukkur and Hyderabad in Sindh and Peshawar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have shown presence of polio virus, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has informed through a press release issued here on Sunday. Poliovirus has also been found in sewage water samples collected from Gaddap Town, Karachi, after a gap of about four months. Gaddap Town is one of the country’s key poliovirus reservoirs where a lot of efforts were made over the last six months to reach every child during every polio campaign. However, during the last campaign in mid-July, all children could not be reached due to deteriorated security situation and incidents targeting polio workers. Similarly, sewage samples from Baldia Town, Karachi, have also shown the presence of polio virus for the first time this year after 12 samples did not have poliovirus earlier this year. Pakistan has reported 27 polio cases this year so far; 13 from Fata, 6 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 3 each from Sindh and Punjab and 2 from Balochistan. These polio cases come from 15 districts. Recent unfortunate facts are the banning of polio campaigns in North and South Waziristan Agencies, depriving more than 200,000 children of polio vaccination. This is in addition to Bara Tehsil of Khyber Agency, which has been inaccessible to vaccination teams since September 2009. It is pertinent to mention that 10 of the 13 polio cases in Fata this year have been reported from Bara. If the recently imposed ban on polio vaccination is not reversed and access in Bara is not gained, the goal of the National Emergency Action Plan will be at serious risk, WHO has warned.