7 suspected polio cases reported in Zamboanga

Seven suspected polio cases were reported in Zamboanga Peninsula according to the Department of Health (DOH)-Region Nine, according to the report of Maki Pulido on State of the Nation with Jessica Soho.

The agency is currently waiting for the results of the samples taken from the affected children and sent to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine.

According to DOH-Region Nine, only 71 percent of the children in their area were vaccinated against Polio in 2018, far from the 95-percent target of the DOH.

The remote locations of some houses, lack of knowledge and awareness of residents, and fear brought about by the Dengvaxia controversy were some of the reasons the DOH identified behind the low percentage of vaccinated children.

Polio or poliomyelitis, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) , is a crippling and potentially deadly infectious disease caused by the poliovirus.

The virus spreads from person to person and can invade an infected person’s brain and spinal cord, causing paralysis in which the patient can’t move parts of the body.

Symptoms include sore throat, fever, tiredness, nausea, headache, and stomach pain that may last from 2 to 5 days. — Julia Ornedo/BAP, GMA News