DOH confirms 3rd case of polio in the Philippines
MANLA, Philippines (Updated 2:39 p.m.) — Another case of polio was confirmed in the Philippines, bringing the total number of people infected with the disease to three.
The third confirmed case was a four-year old girl from Datu Piang town in Maguindanao, the Department of Health said Monday. She had not received any dose of oral polio vaccine.
The girl’s stool samples sent to the National Institute of Infectious Diseases in Japan tested positive for vaccine-derived poliovirus 2. The virus has been genetically linked to the first polio case in nearly two decades.
In a statement, the Health department said the patient was initially reported as a case of acute flaccid paralysis on September 26 when she was brought to the Cotabato Regional Medical Center.
The patient had a fever, diarrhea, muscle pain and was vomiting, DOH said.
Results of tests on samples from another suspected case have yet to come in, it also said.
The DOH will be conducting a vaccination campaign in Datu Piang from November 4 to 8, targeting 4,254 children from 0 to 59 months and assured the public that "stocks of OPV are sufficient and that preparations are underway."
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III reminded parents and guardians to make sure that children are protected from all vaccine-preventable diseases.
The first two polio cases in the Philippines were a three-year-old girl in Lanao del Sur and a five-year-old boy in Laguna.
The re-emergence of vaccine-derived polio—a non-wild form of the disease—last month triggered a mass vaccination campaign. The resurgence of the disease comes after the Philippines was hit by measles and dengue outbreaks earlier this year.
Polio can cause paralysis and can be fatal in rare cases. The disease has no cure and can only be prevented with several doses of oral and injectable vaccines. — Gaea Katreena Cabico
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