Nigeria will be certified Polio free in 2 Years- Dr. Balogun of Sheffi Hospital

Polio is a very dreadful disease endemic in Nigeria. Over years, it has claimed so many limbs of children between the ages of zero and five. We got wind that the disease was going out of Nigeria and decided to ask an expert. We spoke with Dr. Femi Balogun, the Medical Director of Sheffi Hospital in Ikeja and Egbeda. Please read all you need to know about polio in Nigeria.

By Funke Fayemi and Olufemi Odeyemi

What is Polio?

Doctor Balogun: Polio is a disease of the underdeveloped countries in the world. You find polio in areas with very poor structure. It is a disease that is transmitted through fico-oral route. Fico is for feces, oral is through the mouth. It’s caused by poor hygiene or poor sanitation. If somebody has the polio disease, he will pass it in his stool and that can be carried into your water or into your food. That is how it starts. One out of every two hundred cases of polio will develop into paralysis. So a lot of people have it and they go on passing it without showing any signs. Once the paralysis develops, it’s crippling and the person stays paralysed for life. Medical science does not really have a cure for Polio but it is a preventable disease and that is what is being done by enlightening the public, government, community leaders and religious leaders to let them know it is preventable.

Who are susceptible to the disease?

Doctor Balogun: Usually, it is the young children in our environment here below the age of 5.

Can polio be passed from a mother to an unborn child if she takes contaminated water?

Doctor Balogun: No, it is not the type of infection that can be passed from a mother to an unborn child. Usually, when a child is born till when it is 5yrs, which is when they are most susceptible to polio infection. What the Federal Government does is that from age 0-5, the child is immunized.

How can it be managed?

Doctor Balogun: it’s by strengthening the public health system by making sure every child is immunized against polio and making sure the vaccine is acceptable to the community. if the vaccine can reach every child in the world, no child will have polio. If we have some cases where some children are not reached, then the whole world can be re-infected again. In our part of the world, when a child grows above 5years, he would have been exposed and grown resistance to the virus, so we worry about age 0-5. Polio is not hereditary.

Is this the last set of immunization? We heard if no case is reported, it might be the last time polio vaccine is being administered on children.

Doctor Balogun: No it is not the last set, immunization will still continue. If there are no new cases of polio, it means polio is no more endemic in this part of the world. If we continue like that for 2 years, then Nigeria will be certified Polio free.

Is there hope for those living with the disease?

Doctor Balogun: Of course there are hopes for them, its just their limbs that are paralyzed, they are intelligent, can walk, corrective surgery can be done for them so they can move, we encourage them to have proper education, we advise the society not to discriminate against such people and a lot of them are doing very well. Last month here, one of the journalists that came had his 2 legs paralyzed and I was really impressed because he did exactly what you are doing now.

What are the signs to look out for to know if a child has polio?

Doctor Balogun: I will try and come to your level. Polio disease is in 2 phases, the acute and chronic phase. The acute phase comes like most febrile illness like the child is hot, the child is vomiting and stooling, a child that has been active will rather want to stay quiet, the child crawling before will rather not want to use any muscles because the muscles are sour. The child may recover completely and get well. The child may now become so ill and taken to the hospital. If the Doctors or Health care there suspect polio, they will not want to give drugs that will not involve giving injections into the muscles because the muscles are already sour. When you give injections into the muscle, that will worsen everything and aggravate the sourness and will eventually lead to paralysis. The virus comes in through the intestines into the blood and into the nervous system. From the nervous system can lead to the paralysis. Intramuscular injections aggravate the sourness and that tends to make the disease worse, otherwise, most children will recover on their own. They may die from other complication like vomiting and stooling and other things but not necessarily from the polio virus. The body may develop a resistance  and fight the virus.

You said there are 2 types, the acute and chronic

Doctor Balogun: The chronic type is the one you see around with the paralysis. They are actually well but they have disability, their limbs are paralysed either in the hands or legs, sometimes their two legs, sometimes both hands and legs, it depends on how bad and severe the case is. That is acute and chronic. In terms of species, we have different species of polio virus. We have the type 1, type 2, type 3. The types 2 and 3 have completely been eradicated in Nigeria. It’s the type 1 we have and we are about finishing it. As at last year, we had only one case in Yobe and about four cases in Kano. The one in Kano is in about two local governments, so Nigeria is doing very well and we pray we will continue to do well with regards to the eradication of the disease.