PESHAWAR – Pakistan has reported eighteenth polio case of this year as the health authorities detected one more case in the North Waziristan tribal district.
This time, a three-month-old boy has been diagnosed with the polio disease in Tehsil Razmak of the tribal district.
The toddler contracted the virus despite receiving all three doses of oral polio vaccine (OPV), reports said.
South Waziristan has reported 16 poliovirus cases while two were detected in Lakki Marwat district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province during this year.
In August, polio virus was found in environmental samples from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and Islamabad.
The southern districts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, namely North and South Waziristan, DI Khan, Bannu, Tank and Lakki Marwat, are at the highest risk of wild poliovirus, per reports.
Polio is a highly infectious and debilitating disease that is usually spread through contaminated water or food. Invading the nervous system, the disease can cause total paralysis within hours.
The contagious virus thrived in the borderlands between Pakistan and Afghanistan where militants attacked and even killed anti-polio teams.
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