THE Cagayan de Oro City Health Office (CHO) is urging parents to have their children ages 0 to five years vaccinated to prevent them from contracting poliovirus.
Poliomyelitis or polio, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), is a highly infectious viral disease, which mainly affects young children.
Dr. Lorraine Nery, officer-in-charge of CHO, said the virus can be transmitted through the fecal-oral route or by taking in contaminated food or water.
The symptoms of polio include fever, fatigue, stiffness in the neck, headache, vomiting, and pain in the limbs.
In a small proportion of cases, the disease causes paralysis, which is often permanent.
According to Nery, the virus can be prevented through vaccination. Children ages 0 to 5 years should be vaccinated with the Oral Polio Vaccine three times and injected with the Inactivated Polio Vaccine during the third dose of the Oral Polio Vaccine.
Apart from taking polio vaccine, the CHO also encourages the public of proper human waste disposal and sanitation as it can also prevent the spread of the virus.
The public was also warned to be careful with the food they eat and the water they drink to avoid getting infected by the virus.
In 2000, the WHO declared the Philippines as polio-free. However, the WHO has recently officially removed the country’s certification as a polio-free nation following the two confirmed cases of polio.
The first case of polio involved a three-year-old girl from Lanao del Sur while the second case is a five-year-old boy from Laguna.