Mass immunisation campaigns were initially conducted to facilitate the implementation of a polio eradication strategy to rapidly interrupt the chain of polio transmissions.
All children aged 0-59 months, irrespective of immunisation history, were immunised with two doses of an oral polio vaccine during two rounds of campaigns early last year. This year, the week of 6 to 12 August is Polio Eradication Week. Polio is a worldwide disease and can affect any child.
It is an illness that causes sudden weakness or lameness in the limbs – and sometimes even death in children with no history of injury. The polio virus can be passed easily from one person to another through unwashed hands, contaminated food, in situations of poor sanitation, or in any environment where children are not yet toilet-trained.
It can also spread when food or drink is contaminated by faeces containing the virus.
The polio virus affects mostly children below the age of five. Good hygiene should be practiced.
Initial symptoms are fever, fatigue, headache, vomiting, stiffness in the neck and pain in the limbs. The virus can spread rapidly before cases of paralysis are seen, as most people infected with it have no signs of illness and are unaware they have been infected.
There is no cure for polio, it can only be prevented through immunisation. The polio vaccine, given multiple times, almost always protects a child for life. Polio can be prevented by immunisation with polio drops at birth, six weeks, 10 weeks, 14 weeks, 18 months and five years of age.
You may notice polio in young children where one of the legs appears floppy and weak. Polio also causes sudden weakness or the inability to use a leg or arm. Please report any child who, without any injury, develops weakness of either an arm or a leg to the nearest clinic or hospital.
When a patient with such weakness is taken to hospital, tests are performed to ensure it is not polio.
All parents and caregivers must take their children to the clinic for polio drops at the correct age.
Polio can be prevented! A deformity caused by polio cannot be reversed – it is there for life. A child is fully protected against polio if he or she is vaccinated at the right age. Immunisation is free at all clinics.
Don’t wait for a deformity to happen, vaccinate your child!
Details: Sister Pumla Nyamane (EPI coordinator), Health Department on 011 582 1658.
