ISLAMABAD: Pol­io­virus has been found in samples taken from two more districts of the country — Dera Ismail Khan and Bahawalpur — taking the number of infected districts to 42. Both areas had been free from the virus over the past few years.

Moreover, 15 environm­e­­ntal samples have been fo­­­und positive, taking the tal­ly of positive samples this year to 168.

According to the Nati­onal Institute of Health (NIH), 15 new detections of the Type-1 Wild Poliov­irus (WPV1) have been confirmed.

“Last year, there were 126 environmental sample isolation from 28 districts,” an official of the lab said, wishing not to be quoted.

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He said the samples fou­nd positive were collected from D.I. Khan, Bahawa­lpur, Mirpur Khas, Kara­chi South, Karachi East, Karachi Korangi, Lakki Marwat, Peshawar, Usta Muhammad, Cham­­an, Quetta and Mastung.

Officials blamed poor performance of a partner-led programme over the last two seasons — 2022-23 and 2023-24 — resulting in a wide immunity gap fav­ouring the current spread of the virus.

According to Pakistan Polio Eradi­cation Prog­ramme, samples contained the virus that was genetically linked to the imported YB3A genetic cluster, like all other detections in the country this year.

Published in Dawn, June 5th, 2024