Islamabad: At least 13 new cases of polio have been reported in Pakistan, taking the number of those affected this year to 158, according to media reports on Wednesday.
The new cases were confirmed by the Polio Virology Laboratory of the National Institute of Health in Islamabad.
Seven of the new cases were reported from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), three from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and one case each from Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan province, an official of the Prime Minister's Monitoring and Coordination Cell for Polio said.
The youngest victim is eight-months-old Muzamil of Chaman in south-western province of Balochistan who had not received any dose of the polio vaccination.
A total of 58 polio cases were reported in 2012 while 93 cases surfaced in 2013. This year, 113 cases from FATA, 27 from KP, 12 from Sindh, two from Punjab and three from Balochistan have been reported so far.
Pakistan, which is already facing travel restrictions imposed by the World Health Organisation, is among the three countries along with Nigeria and Afghanistan where polio virus is endemic.
