ANTIPOLIO CAMPAIGN The Philippines has recorded its fourth polio case and is ramping up an antipolio vaccination campaign in the Bangsamoro Region in Muslim Mindanao where three of the cases were found. After 19 years of being polio-free, vaccination drives are going on in many parts of the country, including Sampaloc, Manila, as shown in this picture taken at a health center in the district last month, to stop the spread of the debilitating disease.—MARIANNE BERMUDEZ
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) rolled out a “targeted vaccination campaign” in two provinces in Mindanao after a 3-year-old girl from Sultan Kudarat province became the fourth confirmed polio case in the country.
Health Undersecretary Eric Domingo on Wednesday said the DOH initiated an oral polio vaccine (OPV) drive in Maguindanao and Sultan Kudarat ahead of the second immunization campaign scheduled to start on Nov. 25 because the third and fourth polio cases were recorded in these two provinces.
Place of infection unknown
Domingo said the exact place where the toddler from Sultan Kudarat acquired the virus had yet to be ascertained. He noted that the child spent a month in Datu Paglas, Maguindanao province, 72 kilometers from Datu Piang town where the third polio case was recorded.
Similar to the 4-year-old girl in Datu Piang, the latest case did not receive any OPV dose and contracted the Type 2 strain of the vaccine-derived polio virus.
Three doses needed
While polio, which is transmitted through the fecal-oral route, is incurable, vaccination can provide protection against infection.
To be fully protected, children should receive three separate OPV doses—one each at 6, 10 and 14 weeks old. A single shot of the inactivated polio vaccine is given at the same time as the third OPV dose.
Sudden paralysis
Health officials earlier said that the polio outbreak was due to such factors as low immunization rate, poor sanitation and personal hygiene, and dismal surveillance of acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) cases.
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines AFP as the sudden onset of paralysis or weakness in any part of the body of a child below 15 years old. Looking for and detecting these cases is crucial, even for countries where there are no polio cases, as part of the global strategy to eradicate the debilitating disease.
Ideally, the AFP reporting rate should be 1 per 100,000 children under 15. But in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, where three of the four polio cases originated, AFP surveillance was only 0.3. Nationwide, the reporting rate was 0.44.
Last month, the DOH launched a supplemental OPV drive for children under 5 in Metro Manila and in the provinces of Lanao del Sur and Davao del Sur and in the cities of Davao and Marawi. Communities must achieve an immunization coverage rate of at least 95 percent to prevent polio from spreading.
Davao tops target
In Mindanao, Davao City recorded the highest coverage with 188,675 children vaccinated, surpassing the DOH target by 1 percent. Davao del Sur’s coverage rate was 92 percent (66,777), while Lanao del Sur’s was 85 percent (143,164).
Given that thousands of families were now housed in emergency shelters due to the earthquakes that struck Mindanao last month, Domingo said they were working with local authorities in distributing toiletry kits and ensuring that sanitation and hygiene at the evacuation sites were up to standard to reduce the likelihood of any disease outbreak.