The disease has not been reported in the Americas for 30 years, according to PAHO reports. But vaccination coverage has dropped.
Due to the covid-19 pandemic, the vaccination days once morest other diseases were not fully carried out and coverage that fell was that of polio, a situation that occurred in many countries around the world, including Venezuela.
The pediatrician and infectologist, Rafael Wong, commented to scoop that polio is a viral infection that was eradicated in America more than 30 years ago through immunization with inactive vaccines (Salk) or live attenuated oral virus (Sabin).
The main way of transmission of the virus is by the fecal-oral route, “that is, infected individuals who may be symptomatic or asymptomatic, release this virus through feces and there is human-human infection,” he indicated.
The danger of this virus is that it produces a flaccid paralysis that has very drastic and striking secular symptoms.
To prevent this from happening, it is important that children are vaccinated once morest the disease in their first months of life and thus guarantee lifelong immunity.
The Venezuelan Society of Infectious Diseases, made a call to reinforce the immunization of the general population.
“The advantage of the vaccine, whether it is the Sabin which is oral, it allows the patient to release polio virus but not wild, it produces herd immunity, and the Salk is very effective,” he explained.
Symptoms
The first symptoms that occur when suffering from poliomyelitis are fever, vomiting, diarrhea, gastrointestinal and respiratory problems.
“After three or four days they can be established depending on the form of presentation, there may be manifestations at the level of the central nervous system, which is the most worrying, generating painful flaccid paralysis of certain muscle groups that are not symmetrical, and there is atrophy of the these muscles, leaving the patient practically bedridden depending on the number of muscles that are affected”, stressed the specialist.
Polio does not have a specific treatment, it is only treated symptomatically and the sequelae are treated with rehabilitation, the infectologist stated that in some cases the placement of a splint is needed.
The virus can be diagnosed by serology or by viral identification or isolation in feces.
In America, no cases have been reported for 30 years, according to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), however there are active outbreaks in Africa and Asia, particularly in Pakistan, Nigeria, Afghanistan and India, “these are areas where there are still wild polio cases,” Wong said.
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