Polio Case found in LuandaAccording to the Angolan Vice Minister for public health, Dr. José Van-Dunem, this case was confirmed on 23th June 2005 by the laboratory of The last polio case in What this case of polio in Strengthen epidemiological surveillance to determine if this poliovirus has spread: In the next several weeks, all health centres in Vaccinate all children under 5 years of age: Within the next several weeks, Ministry of Health and partners will launch a campaign to vaccinate all children under 5 years in The Ministry of Health and its partners, will provide whatever support is necessary to quickly limit the spread of this poliovirus in WHAT SHOULD BE DONE: The response to this new case of polio in The people: - Take your children to health centres to be vaccinated against polio and other diseases. All children should receive at least 4 doses of polio vaccine before their they turn 6 months first birthday - Participate in National Immunization Days, even if your child has already been vaccinated. - If you see, or hear about a case of paralysis in a child, notify the nearest health centre immediately Doctors, nurses and other health professionals: - When you see a child with recent paralysis, notify the reference health center immediately. Trained technicians will come to take a specimen. Do not send the patient away before a sample has been taken - Participate in National Immunization Days - Vaccinate all children under 1 year of age who come to your health centre, regardless of the reason for the consultation The Media: - Help to spread information about the need for the community to - Notify immediately all cases of recent paralysis to health officials - Make sure that all 6-month infants have received 4 doses of polio vaccine, either at health centres or during National Immunization Days. THE After a large polio epidemic in ADITIONAL INFORMATION Poliomyelitis (polio): Polio is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus. Most people who are infected have mild fever or no symptoms at all. One per hundred infected persons develop paralysis, meaning the inability to move a limb. This sudden paralysis usually involves the legs, but may involve the arms or the whole body. The paralysis lasts forever – there is no cure for polio. Polio mostly causes paralysis in children under 5 years old, and very rarely in adults. Between 5 and 10% of children infected with polio will die from this disease. Vaccination against polio: Fortunately there is a safe and effective vaccine against polio. The oral polio vaccine (OPV) is given by mouth. Every child should receive the OPV at least 4 times in the first six months of life. After that, every additional dose gives valuable extra protection against polio. To protect all children aginast polio, every child must be immunized during every round of polio NIDs. All polio vaccination is free in The eradication of polio: In 1988, all the countries of the world agreed to work together to eradicate polio. Eradication means that the disease will be gone forever; that polio will no longer paralyze children anywhere in the world, and that countries will no longer have to vaccinate children against polio. There are three strategies that every country must use to eradicate polio: Routine vaccination: Every child should receive at least four doses of polio vaccine during his/her first six months of life, along with other vaccines against diseases such as tetanus and measles. National Immunization Days (NIDs): This refers to a period, usually three days, during which all children less than 5 years of age are vaccinated against polio. Most countries have two NIDs per year, separated by one month. During NIDs, vaccinators go house to house to vaccinate all children under 5 years of age. Many countries use NIDs to vaccinate children who may not receive polio vaccine as part of routine vaccination. All children under 5 should receive polio vaccine during National Immunization Days – even if they have already been vaccinated against polio. Taking more than four doses will not harm a child. Epidemiological Surveillance for paralysis: To determine whether polio is really eradicated, all countries must be able to detect the disease. All children under 15 years old who develop paralysis, whatever the cause, must be reported immediately to the nearest health centre. Specimens of stool are taken to determine whether the cause of the paralysis is polio or caused by something else. These specimens are sent to a specialized laboratory in The polio eradication initiative has been extremely successful. Using the above strategies, the number of cases of polio in the world has decreased from 350.000 in 1988 to only 559 so far in 2005. Three regions of the world, the The World Health Organization objective is to see the last case of polio in the world by the end of 2005. All countries must continue surveillance for paralysis until 2008, to be sure that there is no more polio in the world. If now further cases are detected, the planet will be certified polio-free in 2008, and vaccination against polio may stop. In 2004, polio vaccination in
For further information please contact: Dr. Filomena Wilson/MoH tel. + 244 912333455 Dr. Fátima Valente/ EPI/MoH tel. +244 923404129 Mr. José Caetano/WH O tel. + 244 912220543 Macarena Aguilar/UNICEF tel. +244 912 219524 Celso Malavolonek/UNICEF, tel. +244 912653016
More on Polio
Read latest Polio Eradication Situation Report from June 2005 and the Situation Report on the Polio Case in Angola.
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