A 3mo Malaysian boy is suffering from polio, the first case in the country since it was declared polio-free for close to 3 decades. The last polio case in Malaysia occurred in 1992.
The baby in Tuaran, Sabah, is now being treated in an isolation ward of a hospital after experiencing fever and weakness of the limbs. He is in stable condition but in need of respiratory support.
Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah (pic) said the child was confirmed infected with the vaccine-derived poliovirus type 1 (VDPV1) and those polio strain shared genetic links with virus detected in the recent outbreak in Philippines.
Poliovirus has reemerged in the Philippines nearly two decades of being #polio-free. UNICEF and @WHOPhilippines are supporting @DOHgov's outbreak response. READ: https://t.co/7x5RZBJJKt #VaccinesWork #EndPolio
— UNICEF Philippines (@unicefphils) September 19, 2019
The virus spreads rapidly among children and currently there is no cure for polio, which invades the nervous system and can cause irreversible paralysis within hours, but it can be prevented with vaccines.
However, when they check in the area where the 3mo baby lived showed 23 of 199 children between 2 and 15 had not received the polio vaccine.
“This is a worrying situation as the spread of the disease… can only be stopped with polio immunisation,” he said, adding vaccination rates needed to be above 95 per cent to prevent infection.
Thus ,we urged Malaysian parents to vaccinate your child because prevention is better than cure.
Source : Malay Mail | The Star | Aljazeera