HYDERABAD, Nov 7: Environmental samples taken from sewerage lines of the city in October have tested negative for the second consecutive month this year, according to a report released by the National Institute of Health Laboratory (NIHL), Islamabad, on Wednesday.

If the samples test negative for the three consecutive months, Hyderabad city which has faced potential threat from poliovirus since July 2012, will move away from the high risk zone.

Health officials and organisations working for the eradication of the crippling disease say there is potential reservoir of the virus, which means it is in the environment, in Hyderabad, Karachi and Peshawar from where environmental samples are taken on a monthly basis and sent regularly to the NIHL for analysis.

The Hyderabad samples tested negative first in September and now in October. Although the samples tested negative also in May but tested positive again in June.

The samples are being taken from sewerage lines since July 2012 and the testing process at the laboratory takes around a month.

District Health Officer Dr Ghulam Mustafa Abbasi confirmed to the Dawn that October samples had tested negative for the second consecutive month.

“We will work harder to end this crippling disease and will launch a five-day anti-polio campaign from Nov 18 to 22 across the district. I’ve also asked WHO representatives to pay more heed to children under five years of age who come to the city from other districts, including Jamshoro, Tando Mohammad Khan, Tando Allahyar and Matiari so that the virus could be eradicated forever,” he said.

The district focal person for polio, Dr Masood Hussain Jafferi, said that Hyderabad had been declared highly sensitive with regard to poliovirus since 2008 after some confirmed cases were reported from the district from 2008 to 2012. The district had, however, remained polio free from 2005 to 2007, he said.

“This is a bit good news and a big achievement for the health department but we need to step up our efforts to kill off this virus,” he said, adding that if the samples tested negative for the three straight months, Hyderabad would be out of the high risk zone.

If there were no confirmed polio cases for the coming three years then the city would get polio free status from the international agencies, including WHO, Unicef and others, he said.

He said that on the 10th of each month, the samples were taken from Tulsidas pumping station which covered union councils 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 and 15 in Hyderabad city and parts of cantonment.

He said that health department in coordination with deputy commissioner launched the anti-polio drive twice a month. If the report of environmental sample tested negative for three consecutive months, then the department would slacken the drive, he said.

“We used monovalent vaccine against circulating virus (P1-virus) in the district, enhanced supervision and accountability, employed 100 more doctors in the two monthly drives a month in addition to 68 regular doctors,” said Dr Nadeem Shah, officer of Hyderabad National-Stop Transmission of Polio (N-Stop).

He said the health department had tried its best to kill all chances of spread of poliovirus which could raise its ugly face again, if the children under five years of age were allowed to play in sewage or muddy waters.

He said that there were 20 permanent transit vaccination points across the city where 84 teams of polio vaccinators administered drops to children under age of five years who came to the city or departed it.

These points had been set up at Hyderabad railway station, Badin and Baldia bus stop and other exit and entry points, he said.

A total of 56 confirmed poliovirus cases have so far been reported across the country, including four in Sindh, three in Punjab, nine in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 40 in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.