The health ministry¹ ordered a vaccination² campaign across the capital after the three-year-old was diagnosed. 

 

Polio remains³ endemic in Afghanistan, Pakistan and northern Nigeria, but has been almost wiped out around the world. 

 

In all three countries Islamic extremists have obstructed⁴ health workers, preventing polio eradication⁵ campaigns from taking place. 

 

Since the Afghan Taliban changed their policy, allowing vaccination in recent years, there has been a decline in cases in Afghanistan. 

 

There were 80 cases in 2011, 37 in 2012, and 14 in 2013. 

 

The emergence⁶ of a new case in Kabul is worrying health officials. 

 

It was discovered in a very poor community of Kuchis, formerly⁷ nomadic⁸（游牧的） herdsmen, now settled on a hillside in the east of the capital. 

 

In response, health workers have tried to visit every home in the community. 

 

There is no running water or electricity, and some of the ex-nomads still live in tents, despite the cold of winter in Kabul.

 

Once the workers have put drops into the mouths of infants they find, they mark their hands with a blue line, and write the date on the wall. 

 

It seems rudimentary（基本的）, but tens of thousands of volunteers in campaigns like this across the country have succeeded in almost beating the disease.

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