Polio virus confirmed in Bannu environmental samples: NPL

ISLAMABAD: The National Polio Lab (NPL) has confirmed polio virus in environmental samples in Bannu, citing sources ARY News reported on Tuesday.

Polio virus has been found in sewage sample from Bannu’s Muslimabad Sokarai area. Type-1 wild poliovirus has been detected in environmental samples in Bannu, sources said.

The NPL has detected Polio virus for the 11th time this year in samples collected from Bannu. Sewage samples were collected last month from Bannu for polio test.

This year, poliovirus has been detected in 27 climatic samples as well, sources said.

This year, poliovirus has been confirmed in 37 sewage samples, sources said.

They added that in Punjab this year, poliovirus has been confirmed 10 times. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa virus of the crippling disease has been found in 24 samples and in Sindh and Islamabad in one sewage sample each, sources said.

In 2021, polio virus was found in 65 sewage samples.

Genetic diagnosis of the polio virus in sewage samples being further examined, sources added.

Earlier on September 11, Poliovirus was detected in sewage samples from Karachi after a gap of a year, the Sindh health department confirmed.