In the context of World Polio Day, the National Ministry of Health indicated that polio vaccine coverage reaches 75 percent of the country’s target population, a low figure that generates a potential risk of reintroduction of this disease that can have serious health consequences, even death. Likewise, specialists analyzed the characteristics of this pathology.
“Poliomyelitis, or polio, is a poliovirus disease, characterized by being potentially fatal or highly disabling. This virus can be transmitted through elimination through fecal matter and its entry through the digestive tract, after which it goes to the digestive system. central nervous system, specifically the spinal cord, which sometimes generates very severe paralysis,” infectious disease doctor Lautaro De Vedia recalled to the official state agency Télam.
“Patients who reached this point could continue progressing and die, or be left with significant consequences, such as paralysis of the lower limbs, or even needing a respirator (or lung motor) for the rest of their lives,” he recalled.
In Argentina, a major outbreak occurred in 1956 and 1957, in which around 6,500 cases were recorded, with around 700 deaths; Then there were two smaller outbreaks in 1971 and 1983.
“Thanks to vaccination against polio, which began precisely at the end of the 1957 epidemic, no cases have been recorded in Argentina since 1984,” said De Vedia, a member of the Argentine Society of Infectious Diseases (SADI).
In 2022, the National Ministry of Health launched a campaign to strengthen vaccination against measles, rubella, mumps, and polio for children from one to four years old.
In the recitals of the campaign, which was published in the Official Gazette through resolution 1167/2022, the Ministry reported that “preliminary anti-polio vaccination coverage during the year 2021 has reached levels below 75 percent for all ages at national level”, largely accompanying the decline in all vaccination rates as a consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“This percentage is considered low and generates a situation of high risk of reintroduction. It is important to improve these numbers,” indicated the specialist.
2023-10-24 13:32:02
#World #Polio #Day #children #Argentina #receive #vaccine #El1 #Digital
