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After a decade of eradication, polio virus found again in Kathmandu

Photo: Dawn

Kathmandu: Polio virus has been found in drainage water in Kathmandu.

During an interaction organized by the Health Service Department on ‘Polio Disease and Surveillance’ in the capital on Friday, the Chief of Child Health and Nutrition Division, Dr Abhiyan Gautam, said the polio virus was found in the water at the confluence of Tukucha and Bagmati rivers.

A sample collected from the confluence tested positive for poliovirus. It is the first time the polio virus was detected in the drain water.

Nepal had last witnessed this virus in humans in 2010, while the country became polio-free in 2014. The government had aimed to eradicate the polio by 2026.

“Irrespective of the place this virus is found, it is quite sensitive. Tracing the polio virus has caused doubt whether humans also have it,” he explained. 

Dr Gautam further informed additional tests would be conducted. 

The sample collected on May 26 was sent to a Bangkok-based laboratory for the test which resulted positive. The result came on July 13.

It was also shared in the program that the new variant of the virus is ‘vaccine-derived polio type-3’. It is not ‘wild polio’. “It might not have come from elsewhere but from Kathmandu Valley itself because it was found at Teku, confluence of Tukucha and Bagmati rivers,” Dr Gautam argued. 

With the detection of the virus after a decade of eradication, the Ministry of Health and Population has decided to launch an anti-polio campaign in all three districts of the valley. 

Director of the Family Welfare Division, Dr Bibek Kumar Lal, said ‘The IPV’ vaccination was launched against polio recently. Under the vaccination campaign, a total of 280,000 children would be administered anti-polio vaccination from July 24-27.