KATHMANDU, JULY 22
The Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) is set to inoculate children under five years old with polio drops starting July 24, following the detection of a highly contagious poliovirus in the city's sewage.
Health workers will visit every household for this campaign, and children who have previously received regular vaccinations will also be inoculated, according to the KMC.
Oral polio vaccines are administered thrice, in the sixth, tenth, and fourteenth weeks, with additional vaccinations at nine months. The KMC estimates that around 63,000 children under five need polio vaccines, with the highest number of children in Ward No. 6 and the lowest in Ward No. 1.
Although polio has not been detected in people in Nepal since 2010, the campaign is being initiated due to the recent detection of the virus in sewage. The poliovirus was found in water at the confluence of the Tukucha and Bagmati rivers.
A sample collected from this site on May 26 tested positive for the virus in a Bangkok-based laboratory, with results confirmed on July 13.
During a program, it was revealed that the detected virus is a 'vaccine-derived polio type-3,' not 'wild polio.' Nepal last recorded human cases of the virus in 2010 and was declared polio-free in 2014. The government had aimed to eradicate polio by 2026.
