PESHAWAR: A polio case was registered from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) on Friday, taking the total number of polio cases detected in Pakistan to 28 this year.
According to the Prime Minister Polio Eradication Cell, six-month old Muhammad Yasir from the Urmarh Bala area of Peshawar was diagnosed with polio virus.
Including the latest case, this year, 13 polio cases have been registered in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, of which eight have been registered in Peshawar.
Read: Another polio case detected, taking the toll to 22 this year
2014 shaped up to be the darkest year for the Pakistan polio programme, with the number of confirmed cases reaching 296 — the highest number of cases reported in the country since 1998.
Pakistan is one of only three countries in the world where polio remains endemic but efforts to eradicate the disease have been severely hindered in recent years as militants continue to attack immunisation teams and polio workers.
Polio cases in Pakistan reached a low of 28 in 2005 but rose to 198 in 2011. In 2012, Pakistan had 58 cases, while 93 were recorded in 2013, as reported by End Polio Pakistan.
Read more: Lost — The battle against polio
Militant groups often attack polio teams as they see vaccination campaigns as a cover for espionage. There are also long running rumours about polio drops causing infertility.
