The Department of Health has confirmed the ninth case of polio in the Philippines: a 9-year old girl from Basilan. The child was the oldest in all confirmed cases, with the rest ranging from 1-5 years of age, said a report from Inquirer.
DOH Secretary Francisco Duque III said that the girl did not get polio vaccinations, probably because of the on-going armed conflicts in the region. 8 out of 9 confirmed cases came from Mindanao.
[READ: It’s official: polio has re-emerged in the Philippines]
The girl, according to DOH, also manifested the symptoms of the crippling disease like acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) late.
The health department clarified, however, that it was not rare for children of school age to acquire the disease.
Duque also encouraged parents to have their children vaccinated to be protected from the incurable disease. Three doses of the oral polio vaccine (OPV) are required for children during various stages of growth, specifically 6, 10 and 14 weeks old. After all three OPV doses, an additional shot of the inactivated polio vaccine is needed.
A total of 1.3 million kids in Metro Manila and 5.2 million children in Mindanao are targeted for polio vaccinations by DOH by next week.
Photo courtesy of Inquirer
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