KABUL, July 2 (Xinhua) -- A fresh infectious poliomyelitis case was detected in Afghanistan, bringing to nine the number of confirmed cases of polio virus since January this year, the Afghan Public Health Ministry said Monday.
"A new polio virus case was registered in Pir Mohammad village, Nad Ali district of southern Helmand province recently," the ministry said in a statement.
According to the statement, the paralyzed four-year-old boy had never been vaccinated, as the area his family lives in is behind the reach of health workers and polio vaccinators.
Earlier on Monday, the ministry launched a five-day polio vaccination campaign in 27 of the country's 34 provinces, which will wrap up Friday.
The ongoing insurgency and conflicts have been hindering the efforts to stamp out the infectious disease in the mountainous country as over 1.3 million of children under the age of five would be deprived from the fresh vaccination, according to the statement.
Polio virus could be rapidly transferred and the only preventable way was vaccination, the statement added.
The latest anti-polio campaign launched by 53,000 dedicated polio workers would deliver oral polio vaccines to over 6.5 million children.
