ISLAMABAD: Health officials on Friday confirmed the report of first wild polio case of current year 2023.
According to spokesperson, Ministry of National Health Services, a three-year old boy had been paralysed by the virus in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Meanwhile, National Polio Laboratory at the National Institute of Health (NIH) Islamabad confirmed the detection of Wild Poliovirus Type-1 (WPV1) as well as Vaccine Derived Poliovirus Type 3 (VDPV3) from the environmental samples collected from Dera Ismail Khan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Ghotki district of Sindh respectively.
Giving the details of Wild Poliovirus Type-1 (WPV1) detection from the environmental sample collected from Dera Ismail Khan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the official said the environmental (sewage) sample was collected on 21st February 2023 from the Paroa environmental sample collection site.
This is the first positive environmental (sewage) sample from the endemic zone of South KP this year, and the third positive environmental (sewage) sample from Pakistan at large in 2023.