LAHORE: The presence of polio in the environment of three districts of Punjab, including Lahore, has again left a question mark on the provincial administration’s measures to fight the disease.
The traces of poliovirus were found from two locations of Lahore - Multan Road and Outfall Road - an official privy to the information said. He said the provincial capital tested positive in November and December 2013.
The virus was reported in Multan after six months while Rawalpindi reported six times during the last year.
He said the presence of the virus in these districts had raised the eyebrows of the global health partners as the Punjab government had promised to make 2014 a polio-free year in the province.
He said the sewage samples were drawn from these three districts in 48 weeks of last year as part of the regular environmental surveillance under the given guidelines of the World Health Organization. The National Institute of Health (NIH), Islamabad, processed the samples to isolate poliovirus and issued reports on Tuesday.
The experts have attributed the presence of the virus in Punjab to the migration of a number of families from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) and FATA to the province during peak winter season.
“The presence of traces of the polio in the three populous districts of the province meant a large number of children were under the risk of contracting this crippling disease”, the official said and added that the government had alerted some civic agencies, to take measures to avoid spread of this virus from the sewage to the drinking water supply lines.
He said one of the major factors behind the resurgence of the poliovirus was said to be the low routine immunisation coverage.
INTERNEWS
