The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at Pakistan’s National Institute of Health has confirmed the detection of polio virus in sewage lines in all four provinces of Pakistan, The Regional Reference Laboratory has confirmed the presence of the polio virus in samples collected from 25 districts across the country. The samples were collected from sewage lines between February 3 and 12, and the results revealed the presence of Wild Poliovirus Type 1 in several districts.

In Sindh, 13 districts, including Karachi Central, East, Keamari, Korangi, and Malir, Hyderabad, Badin, Jacobabad, Jamshoro, Mirpurkhas, Sajawal, Dadu, and Sukkur, were found to have polio-positive sewage. Similarly, in Balochistan, five districts, including Quetta, Chaman, Loralai, Noshki, and Zhob, had polio-positive sewage.In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, three districts, including Peshawar, Dera Ismail Khan, and Lakki Marwat, were found to have polio-positive sewage.

In Punjab, four districts, including Lahore, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, and Gujranwala, had polio-positive sewage. This development comes as Pakistan has already reported six polio cases this year, with four cases reported from Sindh, one from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and one from Punjab. There were 74 polio cases recorded in 2024, the previous year. Of them, one each came from Punjab and Islamabad, while 27 came from Balochistan, 22 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and 23 from Sindh.

According to authorities, the first nationwide polio campaign of 2025 was successfully concluded, with 99% of the targets achieved across the country.The campaign was conducted from February 3 to 9, 2025. During this campaign, more than 45 million children were administered the polio vaccine.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)