ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Four new polio cases have surfaced across Pakistan, taking the total number of polio cases in the country 287 this year.
The sources said that two new polio cases emerged in Balochistan, one each in Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
A 10-month-old girl from Sindh’s Sanghar district was diagnosed with crippling polio virus, the provincial health authorities confirmed on Wednesday.
Out of total 287 polio cases confirmed across the country in 2014, 173 are from the federally administrated tribal areas (FATA), 64 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 28 from Sindh, 21 from Balochistan and three from Punjab.
Pakistan – which is one of the three countries in the world where polio is still categorized as an endemic viral infection – has recorded this year four times more polio cases in number than it witnessed last year.
A total of 72 polio cases were reported in Pakistan in 2013, 58 in 2012, 198 in 2011, 114 in 2010, 89 in 2009, 117 in 2008, 32 in 2007, 40 in 2006, 28 in 2005, 53 in 2004 and 103 polio cases in 2003.
