<div><p>Health workers in Pakistan said Monday they have discovered a new case of polio in a baby girl in the northwestern Swat valley, where ongoing unrest has prevented vaccination.</p><p>The eight-month-old victim is the cousin of another baby girl who was the first in the area to be discovered with the crippling P1 polio virus, they said.</p><p>"I can confirm the second P1 polio case in Swat," Waheed Khan, deputy director of the immunisation programme, told AFP.</p><p>"We don't know yet whether the infant girls caught the virus in Swat or elsewhere," Khan said.</p><p>"We are launching another door-to-door vaccination campaign from July 28-30 and a separate special vaccination will be carried out in Swat, but it depends on peace in the area."</p><p>The military has been fighting rebels led by pro-Taliban cleric Maulana Fazlullah in the scenic area since October, preventing inoculation teams from reaching children in some parts of the valley.</p><p>The government in May signed a peace deal under which the militants agreed not to block polio vaccination drives and other health initiatives.</p><p>But workers were still not able to carry out vaccinations in militant stronghold areas where some 110,000 children live.</p><p>The World Health Organisation recently listed Nigeria, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan as the only countries in the world where polio is endemic.</p><img src="http://admatch-syndication.mochila.com/images/ad.gif?aid=29223325&bid=informcom" /></div><div id="copyright"><div>

Copyright 2008  <a href="http://www.afp.com/english/links/?pid=copyright">AFP Global Edition</a></div></div>