Pakistan May Be Standing in Way of Polio's Eradication

The Atlantic Wire's Uri Friedman reports on an uptick in polio cases in Pakistan—a trend that suggests the country might be the last safe harbor for the disease:

Several Pakistani news outlets today are dissecting a troubling finding from the U.N. Children's Fund: the 63 cases of polio diagnosed in the country so far this year are nearly double the 36 detected during the same period last year. The highly contagious viral disease, which attacks the nervous system and can cause paralysis or even death, is most evident in the province of Balochistan and has now spread to other areas that haven't been infected for the past five years. The U.N., which is trying to eradicate the disease by delivering oral vaccines to children, says that these findings suggest Pakistan could be the "last polio reservoir worldwide"--the country standing in the way of eliminating only the second global epidemic disease after smallpox.

Read the full story at The Atlantic Wire.