Dawn: ISLAMABAD, July 18: A polio virus found recently in southern Israel is exactly of the same kind as prevalent in Pakistan.
Dr Nima Abid, a representative of the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Pakistan, while talking to Dawn expressed surprise over the development.
“We don’t have details how the virus travelled all the way to Israel.”
It may be noted that Pakistan and Israel have no diplomatic relations.
According to Dr Abid, “The virus genotype (genetic make-up) is the same as prevalent in Pakistan and this is what the research has indicated.”
He added: “We are amazed how it travelled all the way to Israel since the virus only existed in Pakistan. However, similar virus samples were also found in Egypt a few months back which had linkages with the Pakistan polio virus type-I (P-I).”
He said the virus was definitely from Pakistan since the genotype was from the same family of virus that existed in Pakistan.
For the last five years, there have been no cases of polio in Egypt, and in Israel much before that, said the WHO official.
Categories: Asia