ISLAMABAD, Dec 12: After Syria, Egypt and Palestine, there is a high likelihood that a poliovirus has also transmitted from Pakistan to a neighbouring province of Afghanistan.

A senior official associated with the polio virology at the National Institute of Health (NIH) told Dawn on the condition of anonymity that two cases of poliovirus had been detected in the Batikot and Behsud districts of Nangarhar province of Afghanistan which borders the Khyber Agency.

“Earlier, nine cases were detected in the neighbouring areas of Afghanistan,” he said. The official said as many as 51 polio cases had been detected in 2013 in Fata and 19 of them were in Khyber Agency.

According to the genetic tests, the poliovirus found in Afghanistan was transmitted from Pakistan, he added.

According to a Global Polio Eradication Initiative report, “The two new wild poliovirus commonly known as P-1 cases were reported during the last week.

“The total number of WPV cases in Afghanistan for the current year is now 11. All the WPV1 cases have been reported from the eastern region of Afghanistan.”

When contacted on phone, World Health Organisation (WHO) Afghanistan chief Dr Arshad Qudoos told Dawn that two new cases were found in Nangarhar province and the authorities concerned were investigating its genetic links.

“It will be premature to say whether it was transmitted from Pakistan or not. Let see the results of the pathological test to detect the link.”

The detection of 19 polio cases in Khyber Agency has put the polio monitoring cell of Pakistan, WHO and Unicef in a difficult situation.

So far, 70 polio cases have been reported from different parts of Pakistan - 51 of them from Fata.

When contacted, Unicef spokesman for polio eradication Azmat Abbas advised this reporter to contact the WHO in this regard.

He, however, said Unicef was assisting the government to create awareness about the anti-polio campaign.

“Wherever the government wants, we go and where it stops us we do not go there due to security concerns,” he said.