Emergency declared following 3 polio cases

The Philippines is in danger of losing its certified polio-free status after three polio virus cases were reported in the country last year, Health Secretary Manuel Dayrit said yesterday.

While admitting that a polio virus epidemic threat has resulted in a current state of national emergency, Dayrit assured the public that there was no cause for panic as the government has already taken steps to address the matter.

An acute flaccid paralysis surveillance system undertaken last year by the Department of Health (DOH) was able to monitor and confirm the three polio cases involving an eight-year-old boy in Cagayan de Oro, and a 14-month-old boy and a three-year-old girl in Cavite.

Paralysis had already developed in the boy in Cagayan de Oro on March 15, while one of the Cavite cases suffered the same on July 26.

Dayrit said the government took swift action after final genetic and other tests last October and that "mop-up" oral polio vaccinations were undertaken in the first week of December in the provinces where the cases turned up.

He also said that a multisectoral team composed of the DOH, the World Health Organization (WHO), the UNICEF and the Rotary Club International has slated national immunization days on Feb. 2-8 and March 2-8 during which oral polio vaccines (OPV) will be administered to children.

Dayrit urged parents of all children aged five years and younger to make sure that their children, including those who have already taken OPV, receive the oral vaccines.

The WHO had already certified the Philippines, along with the country’s neighbors in the Western Pacific region, as polio-free in October 2000 after successful OPV operations in the country.

Polio or poliomyelitis is a viral infection caused by the wild polio virus. It is characterized by fever and sudden paralysis, and a child hit by the virus can be lamed and deformed for life. It can also cause death if the muscles for breathing are affected.

Dayrit said that a "house-to-house" campaign will be undertaken by the multisectoral anti-polio group to ensure maximum accessibility of the vaccines to children.

"Patak Centers" will also be set up in barangays where the OPV will be available.

"This is a national emergency. But we do not want to cause panic since the government has already come up with an action plan against the threat," Dayrit said at a press conference yesterday participated in by representatives from the WHO, UNICEF and Rotary International.

A study made on the three polio incidents, Dayrit revealed, found that an earlier "weaker" strain of the wild polio virus contained in the oral polio vaccines administered in the 1990s had mutated, giving rise to another strain.

"We are now dealing with a mutated form of weakened polio virus that was in the polio vaccine administered in recent years," Dayrit said.

It was noted that the three recent polio cases in the country had been given OPV during infancy.

Dr. Sigrun Roesel of WHO said that such a phenomenon of a polio virus mutating and re-emerging in a polio-free country had occurred in the Dominican Republic, Haiti and just last year in Egypt.

Roesel said that a WHO study noted that the cause for the re-emergence of the polio virus was a lowering of the country’s immunization rate.

Due to their study, Roesel said the WHO saw the need for an intensive and continuous aggressive polio immunization in countries already declared polio-free.

Roesel said that a "house to house" approach to the administering of OPV was also critical.

Dayrit admitted that shortage of OPV as well as difficulties in administering the OPV to far-flung areas resulted in a low immunization rate last year.

"We have already recognized the threat and are now responding to it," Dayrit said.

It was learned that there are still several countries in the African and Southeast Asian regions where the wild polio virus remains endemic. It was stressed that the Philippines was at risk of wild polio virus importation from endemic countries.

Dayrit said a budget of P200 million was being allotted for the OPV drives this February and March that seek to immunize some 12 million Filipino children against the virus.