ISLAMABAD: Pakistani health authorities have found traces of the poliovirus in environmental samples collected from the eastern city of Lahore, local media reported, days after the government launched an anti-polio drive across the South Asian country.
An environmental sample report by Pakistan’s National Institute of Health (NIH) showed encouraging signs as no virus traces were found in sewage samples collected from 37 cities.
However, samples from Lahore tested positive and prompted the authorities to launch a vaccination campaign in 26 union councils across the second largest city of Pakistan, Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper reported.
“The National Institute of Health (NIH) has confirmed the detection of Type-1 Wild Poliovirus (WPV1) in an environmental sample collected from District Lahore (Gulshan Ravi ES site) in January 2023,” the report read.
“This is the first positive environmental sample from Pakistan this year,” it said, citing the NIH.
Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries in the world where polio continues to threaten the health and well-being of children. Polio affects the nervous system of children and ultimately leads to paralysis.
Pakistan last year reported poliovirus in 37 samples detected nationwide.
On Sunday, the Pakistani government launched its first anti-polio campaign of the year, targeting 44.2 million children under the age of five.
This included 22.54 million children in Punjab, 10.1 million in Sindh and 7.4 million in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces.