ISLAMABAD: The National Institute of Health (NIH) National Polio Laboratory has verified the presence of Type-1 Wild Poliovirus (WPV1) from an environmental sample collected from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Bannu district this month, making it the 10th such sample collected from the region this year.
According to the official, the most recent sample brings the total number of environmentally positive samples obtained this year to 32. 22 of the 32 samples out of the total were found to be from KP, he continued.Out of the 22, 10 samples came from Bannu, five each from Peshawar and Swat, and one each from Nowshera and South Waziristan.
Additionally, eight positive samples have been gathered from Punjab, including three each from Lahore and Rawalpindi and one from each of Bahawalpur and Sialkot. This year, one positive sample has also been found from Sindh (Karachi) and Islamabad.
In the nation in 2021, 65 positive environmental samples were found.The environmental sample was taken on October 3, 2022 from the Hinjil Noorabad site in Bannu, according to the official who provided details about the recent positive environmental sample.
The 10th positive sample from District Bannu in 2022 was this one.”The district’s last positive sample was discovered on September 27, 2022. In April 2020, the district reported its final case of wild poliovirus.
He added that the district’s October polio campaign began on Tuesday. The district’s most recent polio campaign was carried out from September 22 to 25 (mop-up in 9 UCs).The results of the genetic sequencing demonstrate a connection between the virus found (new positive sample) and a case reported from North Waziristan.
