1-year-old boy in Nueva Ecija is 17th confirmed polio case

MANILA, Philippines — A one-year-old boy in Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija is the 17th case of polio in the country, the Department of Health (DOH) said Saturday.

In a statement, the DOH said that the boy had a fever and a sudden onset of weakness in his left limb.

“The case was detected through surveillance of Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP) cases in the communities done and reported by barangay health workers,” the DOH said.

Aside from this, the DOH added that environmental samples collected from Butuanon River in Cebu tested positive for the poliovirus, as confirmed by the Research Institute of Tropical Medicine.

The DOH added that it was closely coordinating with the World Health Organization (WHO) for an appropriate vaccination response.

Both Cabanatuan and Mandaue City in Cebu, the DOH added, are being assisted to strengthen their surveillance AFP surveillance capacities, which includes their identification and reporting mechanisms.

“It is important that we are able to timely detect any acute onset of paralysis in children — especially within our communities. We have evidence that the poliovirus continues to spread. Our aim is to promptly diagnose and treat all possible polio cases,” Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said in a statement.

In September 2019, the DOH previously said that polio was back in the Philippines, 19 years after the WHO declared it as polio-free.

To combat polio, the DOH said it was currently conducting the Sabayang Patak Kontra Polio campaign in the National Capital Region and all regions in Mindanao.