ISLAMABAD: Abdul Qadir Patel, minister for national health services, regulations, and coordination, revealed on Tuesday that a Lahore environmental sample had the first wild poliovirus to be discovered in Pakistan in 2023.

Lahore's final case of the poliovirus was announced in July 2020. However, the virus has occasionally been found in the city's waste water. Four environmental samples from the previous year were positive for the virus.

The Pakistan Polio Laboratory at the National Institute of Health (NIH) reported that the poliovirus discovered in Gulshan-e-sample Ravi's had connections to Afghanistan's Nangahar province from last November.

In the meantime, according to Patel, the two "countries are unified in the fight against the virus and are working together to eradicate" the debilitating condition.

He reaffirmed the government's determination to eradicating the devastating illness entirely from the nation.

While the virus' isolation was concerning, he continued, it was great to see that it was discovered right away. The prompt discovery of the virus in the environment was essential for preventing youngsters from contracting the poliovirus, which can cause paralysis.

The minister emphasised the importance of immunising kids as soon as possible and said, "Vaccinating all kids under five is the only way to stop the virus. Parents and other adults must make sure that their children receive the February round of vaccinations, especially in Lahore.

The National Emergency Operations Centre's (NEOC) coordinator, Dr. Shahzad Baig, stated that "this is not unexpected" given that Pakistan and Afghanistan are thought of as one epidemiological block in which polioviruses travel across borders due to heavy population movement.

"We have worked closely with the Afghanistan programme over the past year and regarded the virus in either country as our own," he continued. Polio cannot be eradicated in Pakistan or Afghanistan until both nations can stop the disease's transmission.

Children in the Lahore division received vaccinations as part of the statewide immunisation campaign that ended on January 20 of this year. Additional campaigns will also be held in February and March to combat the outbreak.

The poliovirus is the primary cause of the extremely contagious disease polio, which primarily affects children under the age of five. It attacks the neurological system and might result in death or paralysis.

The best way to prevent children from polio, which has no known treatment, is through immunisation. The level of protection against the virus increases with each vaccination given to children under the age of five.

Millions of youngsters have been shielded against polio by repeated immunisations, and all but two endemic nations—Pakistan and Afghanistan—have eradicated the disease.