ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's National Polio Laboratory at National Institute of Health (NIH) Islamabad has confirmed detection of Wild Poliovirus Type-1 (WPV1) as well as Vaccine-Derived Poliovirus Type 3 (VDPV3) in environmental samples collected from Dera Ismail Khan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Ghotki district of Sindh.

As per reports, WPV1 was detected from an environmental sample collected from Dera Ismail Khan. An NIH official shared that sample was collected on February 21 of this year from Paroa environmental sample collection site.

This is first positive sewage sample from endemic zone of Southern KP collected this year and third positive environmental sample found in Pakistan in 2023. "It is worth mentioning here that no human polio case has been reported from District DI Khan since December 2019.

Published in The Daily National Courier, March, 13 2023

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