Non-infectious nature of bacteria found in Tukucha River confirmed

KATHMANDU: Bacteria found in the sewage of Tukucha River in Kathmandu last June has been confirmed to be non-infectious for polio, according to Dr. Lily Shrestha, Medical Chief at the National Public Health Laboratory.

Tests conducted in Bangkok, Thailand, verified the non-infectious nature of the bacteria.

“To confirm whether the detected polio virus in Tukucha was infectious, we conducted repeated tests using samples from the river’s sewage and other locations, but we did not find any polio virus again,” said Dr. Shrestha. “If the virus had been infectious, it would have reappeared in the sewage samples. Since no polio virus was detected, we concluded it was non-infectious.”

In June, a polio virus was initially detected in samples collected from the confluence of the Bagmati and Tukucha Rivers near Tripureshwar in Kathmandu Metropolitan City Ward 12.

Dr. Abhiyan Gautam, Head of the Child Health and Immunization Branch at the Department of Health Services, reported that the virus did not reappear in 13 follow-up tests after its initial detection in Tukucha River.

Since 2017, the branch has regularly collected sewage samples from rivers, including the Bagmati, Dhobikhola, Manahara, and Bishnumati in Kathmandu, to monitor for polio bacteria, conducting tests twice monthly. Similar monthly testing is also conducted outside Kathmandu Valley in Pokhara, Biratnagar, and Janakpur.

Nepal has not detected any polio infection in the population since 2010.

Polio, a disease spread by the polio virus, causes symptoms such as fever, diarrhea, body pain, and fatigue.