ISLAMABAD: Pakistani health authorities on Sunday confirmed the third polio case in the ongoing year, saying the virus paralyzed a one-year-old child in North Waziristan.

Young children under the age of five are considered extremely vulnerable to the disease, though parents can protect them against its lifelong impact by building their immunity through vaccination.

Polio has been eliminated from the rest of the world, though Pakistan and Afghanistan continue to struggle with it.

“A third polio case has been reported in Pakistan during this year,” said the health ministry in a statement. “A one-year-old boy from North Waziristan has been diagnosed with the disease. It is highly alarming that yet another case has been reported this year.”

Pakistan’s new health minister Abdul Qadir Patel also described the failure to eradicate polio as a “great tragedy.”

“Even a single [polio] case is a huge loss for us,” he said. “In order to protect children from lifelong disability, it is imperative that all children are vaccinated in every campaign.”

The minister said the government was trying to accelerate efforts to completely eradicate the disease from Pakistan.

“I am personally monitoring these efforts to end polio from Pakistan,” he continued. “I visited Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province after these cases were reported. I met the affected families and will also visit other sensitive districts.”

Pakistan reported its first polio case this year on April 22, when a 15-month-old boy from the Mir Ali area in North Waziristan was found infected with the virus.

The case was reported after a gap of more than a year.

The country found the second case within the next few days on April 29.

The ministry officials said they suspected more polio cases after the first one was reported last month.

“Steps have been taken to curb the spread of the virus in the southern districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa since January,” the ministry informed. “The polio eradication program has identified six districts in southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as susceptible to the polio virus.”