TEN stool samples of children under five years old who were randomly picked from the different barangays near the Butuanon River were sent to the Department of Health (DOH)-Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM), a Mandaue City official said on Friday, Feb. 21, 2020.

Aside from intensifying the house-to-house vaccination, Mandaue City Health Office head Dr. Rose Marie Ouano-Tirado said they have to identify the “shredder” or the polio-infected victim in order to contain the case and to prevent the poliovirus from spreading.

According to Tirado, the samples taken were from children under five years old since a baby diaper was found in the Butuanon River where the water samples collected tested positive for poliovirus.

The Mandaue City Health Office has tapped barangay health workers to report children with symptoms of poliovirus such as fever, fatigue, stiffness in the neck, headache, vomiting and pain in the limbs. The viral infection may lead to loose and floppy limbs or Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP).

The World Health Organization has an expected rate of at least one case of AFP per 100,000 children annually.

Considering the number of children in Mandaue, Tirado said they are looking at two to three cases of AFP. (KFD)