Poliovirus has been virtually eradicated from the world but remains a threat in Afghanistan and in some parts of neighbouring...
Afghanistan Thursday confirmed the year's fourth case of poliovirus in its Nangarhar province, months after the country's interim government launched a vaccination drive against the virus.
The vaccination drive which started nearly two months back was aimed to provide jabs to more than nine million children under the age of five, according to the Afghan health ministry.
The authorities said a four-year-old child was reported to have been suffering from the crippling virus.
To date, five cases of poliovirus have been identified in Afghanistan and Pakistan this year, authorities said while adding that "the same virus that affected the child in the Afghan province is also coming to Pakistan."
Authorities added that "there has been a similarity found between the samples from Peshawar Hingo, Lahore and the one detected in Nangarhar province."
Polio has been virtually eradicated from the world.
However, this has not been completely eliminated from Afghanistan and in some parts of neighbouring Pakistan due to inaccessible areas, mass displacement and suspicions of foreign interventions that hindered the eradication efforts.
In May, the virus was detected in an eleven-year-old girl in the same Afghan province, making it the second polio case of the year in Afghanistan and the third polio case globally, according to officials at the National Polio Laboratory at the National Institute of Health (NIH) Islamabad.
According to Khaama Press, a total of 56 cases of polio were reported in the country in 2020, while four cases were reported in 2021. Two instances of polio were reported last year.
The contagious virus is in the areas of the borderland between Pakistan and Afghanistan, where militants attacked anti-polio teams, it reported.