Medicine Cabinet
By Teodoro B. Padilla
POLIOMYELITIS, more commonly known as polio, is a highly infectious viral disease, which mainly affects young children. It is a crippling and potentially deadly disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The virus is transmitted by person-to-person spread mainly through the fecal-oral route or, less frequently, through contaminated water or food. The polio virus multiplies in the intestine, from where it can invade the nervous system and can cause paralysis. Initial symptoms of polio include fever, fatigue, headache, vomiting, stiffness in the neck, and pain in the limbs.
In a small proportion of cases, the disease causes paralysis, which is often permanent. If a child under 15 years of age suddenly shows signs of a floppy or weak arm or leg, then health authorities should be informed immediately.
There is no cure for polio; it can only be prevented by immunization, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Polio vaccine, given multiple times, can protect a child for life. The development of effective vaccines to prevent paralytic polio was one of the major medical breakthroughs of the 20th century.
Thanks to immunization and the commitment by many to fight this disease, the Philippines was declared polio-free by the WHO in 2000 after the last Filipino polio case was documented in 1993. Globally, polio cases have decreased by over 99% since 1988, from an estimated more than 350 000 cases to 22 reported cases in 2017. This reduction is the result of the global effort to eradicate the disease. Today, only three countries in the world have not stopped transmission of polio.
But polio still exists, warns the WHO. Despite the progress achieved since 1988, as long as a single child remains infected with poliovirus, children in all countries are at risk of contracting the disease. The poliovirus can easily be imported into a polio-free country and can spread rapidly amongst unimmunized populations. According to the WHO, failure to eradicate polio could result in as many as 200,000 new cases every year within 10 years all over the world.
According to the WHO, complacency, inconvenience in accessing vaccines, and lack of confidence are key reasons underlying vaccine hesitancy. Vaccine hesitancy is the reluctance or refusal to vaccinate despite the availability of vaccines.
We should all support the DoH in its campaign to disseminate the overwhelming scientific evidence supporting vaccination and to regain public confidence in the government’s immunization program. This is the only we way we can prevent vaccine-preventable diseases from causing more sickness and death among Filipinos.
For more information about the value of vaccination, please consult your physician.
REFERENCES
1. https://www.who.int/topics/poliomyelitis/en/
2. https://www.who.int/features/qa/07/en/
3. http://ro7.doh.gov.ph/22-press-release/208-doh-introduces-inactivated-polio-vaccine-ipv-to-philippine-immunization-list
4. https://www.who.int/immunization/diseases/poliomyelitis/inactivated_polio_vaccine/Key_mess_FAQs.pdf
Teodoro B. Padilla is the executive director of Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Association of the Philippines (PHAP).
medicinecabinet@phap.org.ph
