ISLAMABAD: The extensive environmental surveillance established by the Pakistan Polio Eradication Programme has detected the poliovirus from sewage of 10 cities during last month.
According to results shared by the National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC) on Friday, the presence of polio virus was confirmed in sewage samples collected from Faisalabad, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Karachi, Sukkur, Killa Abdullah, Quetta, Dera Ismail Khan, Peshawar and South Waziristan during January 2019. Considering the associated risks, the country programme has urged parents to ensure immunization of all children under the age of five years during the polio campaigns.
“Polio eradication is a delicate time race between parents and health-care workers and a deadly polio virus.
We have to collectively ensure that we reach all children with multiple doses of vaccination before this dangerous poliovirus found in the sewages of these towns reach unprotected children, ” Dr Rana Safdar, Coordinator for National Emergency Operations Centre said.
“The winter months provides the best chance to hit the poliovirus hard.
Time is vital and we only have the window of eight weeks to get maximum advantages of the low transmission season. The programme is focusing on children who miss vaccination because on any reason and let the virus survive no longer”, Dr. Safdar added.
‘’Continued presence of poliovirus in the sewage of these major cities poses risks to all vulnerable and unprotected children across the country."
Poliovirus from the sewage of South-Waziristan has paralyzed a three-month old baby in Hangu and a poliovirus from the sewage of Lahore has paralyzed a eight-month child in Lahore.
Prime Minister’s Focal Person on Polio Eradication Babar Bin Atta said that it is a reminder to everyone that presence of poliovirus in the sewage of these towns can cause life-long paralysis, especially if the child is not repeatedly vaccinated, in the same town or in a distant town due to the frequent population movement.
"I can’t emphasize enough how critically important it is to ensure that each and every child is vaccinated,”Babar said.
He said that polio is a highly infectious disease caused by poliovirus mainly affecting children under the age of ten years.
It invades the nervous system, and can cause paralysis or even death. While there is no cure for polio, vaccination is the most effective way to protect children from this crippling disease.
He said each time a child under the age of five is vaccinated, their protection against the virus is increased.
He said that repeated immunizations have protected millions of children from polio, allowing almost all countries in the world to become polio free?Reuters
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