Four new polio cases detected in Pakistan

Islamabad, June 29 (IANS) Four new polio cases have been detected in Pakistani areas bordering Afghanistan, a media report said Sunday.

Three of the cases were reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and one in North Waziristan, Dawn online quoted health officials as saying.

According to the Prime Minister's Montoring and Coordination Cell for Polio, the families of the three children refused to have them vaccinated.

The fourth child, a two-year-old from Miramshah in North Waziristan, was not immunised due to the Taliban's ban on vaccinations.

The total number of polio cases detected in Pakistan this year has risen to 88.

An official from the ministry of national health aervices said the only way to curb the disease was to announce a 'polio emergency'.

"After the proclamation of a polio emergency, vaccine refusal should be declared a crime," the official said.