More polio cases despite best efforts to contain it

A two-year-old has been confirmed to have polio in Diamer District of Gilgit-Baltistan region, northern Pakistan, raising fears that the disease could have spread to areas previously believed to be free of it, despite a national polio emergency plan launched by the government in January. The World Health Organization (WHO) recently confirmed the case: “This is the first polio case reported from Gilgit Baltistan after some 13 years. The last case was also reported from the same district, Diamer, in 1998,” said WHO spokesperson Gul Afridi. Since Diamer District is outside the zones previously thought to be affected by the virus, WHO has immediately initiated a number of aggressive vaccination measures to help “stop the polio virus circulation in the area, limiting further spread to neighbouring areas”. The affected child was a female from a family originally from Mohmand Agency in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) along the Pakistan-Afghan border, but who...