Pakistan reports first polio case of 2010
By IANSMonday, January 18, 2010
ISLAMABAD - The dream of a polio-free Pakistan could not be converted into reality as the country’s first case of the disease was confirmed Monday in a nine-month-old child.
The National Institute of Health confirmed the polio virus in a child identified as Bushra, a resident of Bara district in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).
Pakistan had confirmed 117 cases in 2009.
The health ministry had set a target of a polio-free Pakistan by 2010 but this is now not achievable, Online news agency reported.
The ministry has spent billion of rupees on the polio eradication campaign since 1994 but Pakistan is among four countries of the world where the crippling disease still exists.
India, Afghanistan and Nigeria are the other countries where the disease is prevalent.
