26 environmental samples positive for polio – DOH

MANILA, Philippines — Twenty-six environmental samples collected nationwide tested positive for polio, the Department of Health (DOH) announced Wednesday.

The finding was confirmed by the National Polio Laboratory (NPL) of the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) and the Japan National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID).

The health department said a total of 142 environmental samples were collected from various areas nationwide.

Of the 26 samples that tested positive for poliovirus types 1 and 2, 25 were collected from the National Capital Region (NCR) and one was from Davao City.

“The presence of the poliovirus in environmental samples implies that carriers of the virus are continuously shedding in the communities,” Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III said in a statement.

“If viruses continue to spread from person-to-person in areas with low immunization coverage, the poliovirus evolves and regains the ability to cause paralysis,” he added.

According to Duque, this shows the importance of vaccinating children below the age of five, “regardless of their vaccination status.”

The samples were collected from Metro Manila (NCR), Cordillera Administrative Region, Central Luzon (Region 3), Calabarzon (Region 4-A), Davao Region (Region 11), Soccsksargen (Region 12), Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, and Central Visayas (Region 7) as part of a regular surveillance nationwide.

“The ES is being collected from sewage treatment plants and bodies of water from areas without treatment plants,” the health department explained.

DOH said the NPL will continue to provide laboratory confirmation of cases and conduct a collection of environmental samples across the country.

The health department reported the re-emergence of polio in the country in September, with the eight cases confirmed on Monday which was identified to be a nine-year-old girl from Basilan.

The third round of the Sabayang Patak Kontra Polio campaign of the DOH will run from Nov. 25 to Dec. 7, with health workers going house-to-house to administer Oral Polio Vaccine.