Another child affected by poliovirus in Hyderabad

HYDERABAD: Another child affected by poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) was paralyzed in Sindh’s Hyderabad district, taking the affectees’ tally to 16 for the current year.

The Regional Reference Lab for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health (NIH) has notified that the 16th polio case of the year has been confirmed in a 29-month-old female child from the Hyderabad district.

According to the details, the genetic cluster was YB3A4B and the case was 99.22 percent linked to a virus detected in an environmental sample from the Hyderabad district on May 8 this year.

“This is the first case from Hyderabad, the third from Sindh, and the 16th case in Pakistan this year. As many as 12 cases have been reported from Balochistan, three from Sindh, and one from Punjab,” hospital officials said.

Prime Minister’s Focal Person for Polio Eradication Ayesha Raza Farooq said that WPV1 was consistently being reported in sewage samples of Hyderabad for the last four months. “We are operating on an emergency footing in all provinces given the intensity of the outbreak and extent of virus spread,” she said.

Meanwhile, the Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication has confirmed that environmental samples from Karak, Sujawal, Shaheed Benazirabad, Hyderabad, Zhob, Quetta, Loralai, Chaman, Pishin, Rawalpindi and Islamabad districts contained WPV1.

Muhammad Anwar ul Haq, Coordinator of the National Emergency Operations Centre for Polio Eradication, said that a detailed case investigation is being conducted to identify the origins of the virus and the immunization status of the child.