Islamabad, Jan 31 (IANS): Pakistan's National Institute of Health (NIH) detected three new polio cases, taking the number detected in 2015 to six, a media report said Saturday

The first cases of the new year were reported from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), Dawn online reported.

A health ministry official said that the new cases were reported from Nowshera, South Waziristan and Sindh.

"In all three cases, the patients were infected with the P1 virus, which can be transmitted directly from child to child," he said.

In 2014, Pakistan reported as many as 305 polio cases, breaking its own 16-year-old record.

Pakistan is one of only three countries in the world where polio remains endemic but efforts to eradicate the disease have been severely hindered in recent years as militants continue to attack immunisation teams and polio workers.

Polio cases in Pakistan reached a low of 28 in 2005 but rose to 198 in 2011. In 2012, it dipped again to 58 cases and 93 were recorded in 2013, as reported by End Polio Pakistan.