THE Department of Health Research Institute for Tropical Medicine announced on Saturday, Feb. 15, that water samples from the Butuanon River in Mandaue City showed strains of the poliovirus, the causative agent for poliomyelitis or polio for short. It’s a fatal and crippling disease that eats up the nervous system, causes body deformity and in severe cases paralysis and death. It has no cure, but administration of the prescribed vaccine will help prevent it.
Just when the Philippines was done and over it with zero cases in all of 19 years, it declared an outbreak on Sept. 19, 2019. The same weekend when results of the Butuan test was revealed, the country also had its 17th polio case.
The Butuanon River stretches around 20 kilometers, passing through Barangays Pit-os, Talamban, Bacayan and San Jose in Cebu City, and connects to Mandaue City. Mandaue City says it has 881 informal settlers near the Butuanon River, now eyed for relocation. Although the transmission is oral-fecal, there’s a whole lot of possibilities for transmission in poverty-stricken areas where there is poor hygiene and sanitation. That is to say that Butuanon’s 20-kilometer stretch is an open space for transmission.
The Cebu City Government is currently doing a survey on residents within the five-kilometer radius from the river to determine the number of vaccinated children and persons susceptible to infections.
Since last year, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative has been supporting the DOH, along with the World Health Organization, Rotary International, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the United Nations Children’s Fund and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, in pushing for the anti-polio vaccination program in the communities. “Until the last child is fully reached and protected,” the program stated.
Reacting to the DOH announcement, the cities of Cebu and Mandaue and health officials held a coordination meeting on Monday, Feb. 18, 2020. The short-term solution against the infected river is an intensified immunization program for children near the area. The governments will also declare as off-limits the rivers of Butuanon, Tipolo, Mahiga and Cansaga. The Department of Public Works and Highways and the Mandaue City Environment and Natural Resources Office (Cenro) may also spearhead a river cleanup with personnel wearing protective gears. The governments of Consolacion town and Lapu-Lapu City will also be called to coordinate with the efforts.
The Mandaue City Cenro said there are over a hundred industrial companies that dispose of their wastewater to Butuanon River and households with no proper toilet facilities—all of them contribute to the dirt and toxin buildup down the poor river.