PESHAWAR, Sept 8: A 13-month-old girl has tested positive for polio, bringing the number of children afflicted with the disease in the NWFP to 17 this year.

According to health officials, the case of Naila of Peshawar’s Mohallah Sadozai was confirmed by the National Institute of Health, Islamabad.

It could not be immediately known if the girl had received any dose of oral polio vaccine drops.

Four of the 17 cases have been found in Peshawar, three in Bajaur, two each in Nowshera, Swat, Charsadda and Dir Upper and one each in Kohat and Mardan. The health ministry has put the total number of polio cases found in the country this year to 43. However, samples of stool and blood of a suspected polio victim, an infant from Sheikhupura, were sent to the Polio Virology International Laboratory in Atlanta, United States, and test results are negative.