Re: Wild polio confirmed in Uganda
Source:
http://www.monitor.co.ug/artman/pub...expose_Uganda_to_wild_polio_virus_85903.shtml
Health & Living | June 4, 2009
Porous borders continue to expose Uganda to wild polio virus
JANE NAFULA
Uganda has for the last three months been battling a wild polio virus imported from Southern Sudan. The virus has so far crippled eight children in Amuru District and is spreading fast.
Early last week, two new cases of wild polio were confirmed in the districts of Pader and Moyo, bringing the total number of Ugandan children who have been crippled by polio since February this year, to 10.
?It is unfortunate that we have been hit again by a wild polio virus in Moyo and Pader at a time when we were about to celebrate that we had overcome the virus in Amuru,? The Programme Manager of United Nations Expanded Programme on Immunisation (UNEPI) in the Ministry of Health, Dr Possy Mugyenyi says.The last polio case in Amuru was confirmed on February,21.
According to Dr Mugyenyi, the porous borders between Uganda and her neighbours like Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya that enable free movement of people has led to re-emergence of the wild polio virus and that unless all children in Uganda are immunised, the country would continue to suffer at the hands of this deadly virus.
This is because polio is highly infectious in that if one case of polio is reported in a given area, it means that other 200 children in that area have been infected but they are not known because the virus is still in its early stage. And since 10 polio cases have been confirmed, it means that at the moment about 2,000 children in Uganda are living with the wild polio virus and they are also infecting other children. This puts the 20 per cent of Ugandan children who have never been immunised at a high risk of contracting the virus.
Doctors say many infected people do not get symptoms immediately but do excrete the virus in their faeces, hence easing the transmission of the infection to others. The virus enters the body through the mouth when a person takes food, water or drinks that have been contaminated with the faeces from an infected person.
Dr Mugyenyi says the wild polio virus which is being exported to Uganda by her neighbours like Sudan originates from Nigeria. ?Countries like, Sudan, Chad, and Democratic Republic of Congo are suffering from polio whose origin is in Nigeria. The challenge is that these countries have sustained the transmission of imported polio from Nigeria,? he says.
According to Dr Mugyenyi, Nigeria is among the four countries in the world that still have indigenous polio. Other countries include Pakistan, India and Afghanistan.
Emergency meeting
The rapid transmission of wild polio has prompted the World Health Organisation and its partners to hold a meeting in Ethiopia for polio synchronization where countries in the horn Africa agreed to bring on board countries like Chad and DRC to make sure that polio vaccination is conducted for two weeks in all these countries at the same time to check cross boarder transmission.
Polio vaccination
Polio has no cure but it can be prevented through immunisation. A child should be immunised five times before it is one year old and complete the recommended doses on the schedule. The Ministry of Health, World Health Organisation and UNICEF are currently encouraging parents to take their children who are under five years to the nearest health facility or immunisation post to receive polio and measles vaccines.
The supplemental polio and measles immunisation exercise for children will be conducted from June 6, to 8 in various districts. Parents should ensure that children below the age of five receive polio and measles vaccine on stipulated days regardless of their immunisation status.
Mugyenyi says if a child has received polio and measles vaccines before, then extra doses given during the supplemental immunisation activities will strengthen further its immunity against these diseases. It takes multiple doses of polio and measles vaccines to achieve full immunity against the diseases.
Uganda has in the last months conducted supplemental immunisation in the 29 districts that were considered to be at a high risk of contracting wild polio virus when it attacked Amuru District. But the last supplemental immunisation campaign for measles was conducted in 2003 among children between nine months and 15 years following a deadly outbreak.
Over 13 million were immunised, leading to a reduction in the measles mortality rate by 91 per cent. One measles case has the capacity of infecting 17 other children. ?To get rid of childhood diseases like polio and measles, we need to achieve 100 per cent coverage. We are now getting many measles cases due to low immunisation coverage, Dr Mugyenyi says.
According to the Ministry of Health, more than 80 per cent of districts in the country have not yet attained 90 per cent immunisation coverage. In Uganda, immunisation is carried out against eight diseases on a routine basis.
These include polio, tuberculosis, diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, measles, Hepatitis E ( a major cause of liver disease and cancer) and Haemophilus influenza type B (a major cause of meningitis).
All vaccines are given by injection except the polio vaccine which is administered by putting two drops of the vaccine in the baby?s mouth. The benefits of completing the immunisation schedule include reduction of chances of suffering from childhood diseases, prevention of lameness and blindness, protection of the mother and unborn baby against tetanus and proper growth and development. It also saves money spent on treatment.
Statistics at the Uganda School for the Deaf in Kampala indicate that at least 60 per cent of the deaf and blind pupils in this school were born hearing or seeing but were impaired by childhood diseases like measles.
Some parents haven?t bothered to take their children for immunisation due to a false belief that the vaccines are dangerous. The Ministry of Health and the World Health Organisation have repeatedly said the vaccines are safe because they are scientifically tested and handled with extra care. After immunisation, body temperature may rise but this does not mean that the vaccine is dangerous. During the recently concluded supplementary polio immunisation exercise, some parents including some Sudanese living in the Kampala slum of Kisenyi hid their children from the World Health Organisation and Ministry of Health teams that were conducting the exercise.
In Kisenyi for instance, the Sudanese who were approached said they wouldn?t allow their children to be immunised unless they were shown a letter from the President of south Sudan, Salva Kiir, permitting Uganda to immunise them.
Legal action
Officials from the Ministry of Health are now considering taking legal action against parents who refuse to take their children for immunisation, saying the Public Health Act and the Penal Code Act give them powers to prosecute such parents. The officials say refusing to immunise a baby infringes on its right to health and at the same time exposes other children to infections.
Dr William Mbabazi, a risk analyst at the World Health Organisation, Uganda, says all countries should continue using persuasive means to immunise the targeted population. Dr Mbabazi also says that immigrants should abide by the rules and regulations of their host countries so that they don?t turn out to be a problem.
