Mexican para-athlete and gold medalist at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, Gloria Zarza Guadarrama, owes her disability since birth to the after-effects of polio.
Polio is caused by a virus that is transmitted by eating contaminated food or contact with a sick person. Once it appears in the body, there is no cure.
In 2020 alone, the country completed 30 years without cases of the disease thanks to the federal strategy for vaccinating boys and girls. The last case in Mexico occurred in 1990 and four years later, the Pan American Health Organization declared Mexico a country free of polio caused by wild viruses.
Polio prevention
Currently, the Ministry of Health is applying the hexavalent vaccine to prevent contagion. In March 2024, the application of nine million vaccines was projected between April 1 and May 31 in the 32 states.
The hexavalent vaccine is administered in four doses at 2, 4, 6 and 18 months of age and protects against six diseases, diphtheria, whooping cough, Haemophilus influenza type b, tetanus, poliomyelitis and hepatitis B.
The School of Public Health of Mexico (ESPM) He points out that polio mainly affects children under five years of age.but it can also infect people of any age who are not vaccinated.
Of those who become infected, most will have no symptoms, 25% develop flu-like symptoms, while 1 in 200 cases can become serious, damaging the brain and spinal cord resulting in irreversible paralysis.
Of these patients, between 5 and 10 percent result in death due to paralysis of the respiratory muscles.
Gaza Strip, epicentre of race against time against polio
The first phase of the polio vaccination campaign began yesterday, Sunday, in the Gaza Strip, the scene of the genocide of the Palestinian people.
UNRWA, WHO and UNICEF staff are assisting hundreds of Palestinian families to ensure their children receive their first dose.
More than 200 teams are working with the Palestinian Ministry of Health to administer the vaccine and immunize more than half a million, 640 thousand children, and prevent the resurgence of the disease, which had been eradicated 25 years ago, but with the Israeli offensive since October 2023 and the suspension of health services and unsanitary conditions, it re-emerged.
On August 23, it was confirmed that an unvaccinated ten-month-old baby had contracted the type 2 virus and had developed paralysis in his left leg.
The vaccinations come during a pause in three-day fighting between Hamas and Israeli troops.
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2024-09-03 21:24:30