The Deputy Northern Regional Director in charge of Public Health, Dr. Hilarious Abio, has confirmed that Polio Virus has been found in some water samples in the Northern Region.
Dr. Abio disclosed that the virus was found in some samples picked as part of the Service’s routine surveillance on Polio. He stated that the samples picked were from sentinel sites in the Sagnerugu Municipality and from the Tamale Metropolis.
“We picked samples and the results from the laboratory indicated that indeed, we have polio viruses in those drains. We are talking about Nyanshegu in the Sagnerugu District and then Oblimagu in the Tamale Metropolis specifically between the South District.”
Dr. Hilarious Abio
According to Dr. Abio, every month, his outfit picks samples from these districts. He explained that the idea is that the children who are at risk of getting polio, usually get the virus from such environment, as such, the need to keep an eye on the environment to see whether or not these viruses are present.
“We also look out for children who may have probably come into contact with these viruses. So, over the period, in 2019, we had a similar outbreak where we picked some samples from the same site which turned out to be positive and then there were responses to the action and the children who were at risk were immunized to protect them from getting infected.”
Dr. Hilarious Abio
Dr. Abio noted that since 2019 there hasn’t been any positive sample as until a few days back when the Service was notified by Noguchi that the samples that were sent a few weeks back turned out positive.
Water is not consumed
Touching on the possible danger of the virus found in the drains, Dr. Abio disclosed that this is not a drinking water that the people in these vicinities take in. He explained that they are drains with waste water running through it which is a play ground for children in these vicinities who can contract the virus.
“In fact, as at the time we had the report and visited the site, some children were already playing in those drains because they were not heavily flooded with water. Once you have children playing in some of those neighborhoods, the likelihood that they are going to get into contact with these viruses is very high.”
Dr. Hilarious Abio
The Health Director posited that although the children who come into contact with these drains have a high probability of contracting the virus, it is a vaccine preventable disease. He explained that if the particular child has been vaccinated against Polio and comes into contact with these virus, they are unlikely to get ill.
“Again, that’s the essence of keeping an eye on the environment. So, once this happens, the things we need to do is to see the extent of the presence of the virus in the environment. So beyond the places where we usually will pick these samples, we want to go further up and further down the areas where these water flows in order to find out the extent of the virus.”
Dr. Hilarious Abio
His comments came from reports that Polio virus has been discovered in some samples of water scooped from some drains in the Sagnerugu Municipality and the Tamale Metropolis.
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