Polio Virus Reemerges in Pakistan: 28 Environmental Samples from 20 Districts Test Positive
Pakistan faces renewed public health concerns as recent tests confirm the detection of Wild Poliovirus Type 1 (WPV1) in 28 environmental sewage samples collected across 20 districts. This alarming resurgence underscores severe gaps in the country’s ongoing polio eradication efforts, prompting calls for urgent remedial actions.
According to official reports, the environmental samples were collected between May 8 and June 17, confirming the virus’s widespread presence across all four provinces—Sindh, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), and Balochistan—as well as the federal capital Islamabad and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).
Sindh province accounts for the largest share, with 14 samples from 10 separate districts testing positive. Punjab closely follows with 3 positive samples, all from Lahore. In KP, authorities identified the virus in 5 samples from 4 different districts. Balochistan registered 3 positive samples across three districts, while Islamabad showed 2 confirmed cases collected from two distinct locations. Additionally, AJK reported a single positive sample collected in Mirpur.
Public health experts have raised serious concerns regarding the findings, attributing the renewed environmental spread of WPV1 to critical shortcomings in vaccination coverage and disease surveillance at local levels. The resurgence not only threatens Pakistan’s own public health goals but also heightens international scrutiny, especially from global bodies such as the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) that have long monitored Pakistan’s polio eradication activities.
In response, the Ministry of National Health Services is anticipated to launch emergency vaccination campaigns aimed at swiftly stemming further spread. Additionally, civil society groups have called for greater accountability within provincial health departments, urging swift policy amendments coupled with extensive public awareness initiatives. Without immediate and decisive actions, experts warn that Pakistan risks an extensive and challenging resurgence of the polio virus.
