In line with international health regulations, the Minister of Health has declared a National Public Health emergency following an outbreak of the polio virus from two environmental sewage samples in Banjul and Kotu, prompting plans for a massive vaccination of children against the disease.
The health minister with his team of health experts are updating the press about a disease the country last registered over three decades ago; the poliovirus.
The health minister Dr. Ahmadou Lamin Samateh, reveals the presence of the Poliovirus type 2 in the country that were detected through environmental sewage sampling in Banjul and Kotu.
The Health Minister Samateh further states that evidence of sequencing results of the type 2 of the poliovirus detected, are genetically linked to those in other parts of the West Africa sub-region, including in Senegal, Mali, and Guinea.
Having detected the poliovirus type in the Gambia, the health minister declares the outbreak a National Public Health Emergency.
To break the chain of circulation of the virus, the ministry of health plans a massive polio immunization campaign and the strengthening of surveillance systems to protect the population, particularly children between zero and 59 months of age.
The poliovirus detected in the country, as in other countries in the sub-region, is also known as vaccine-derived poliovirus. This is because, the Oral polio vaccine, which was developed and administered to children, contains live virus that is weakened so that it will prompt the body’s immune response without
Causing paralysis.
The vaccine is swallowed, and the weakened virus replicates in the child’s gut, which is then excreted. We are advised to increase proper personal hygiene and environmental sanitation.
In areas with poor sanitation, weak surveillance systems and poor vaccination coverage, this excreted vaccine virus can mutate into severe strains that can spread to other children and cause serious health complications, like paralysis.
The last case of the wild poliovirus was last detected in 1987, this was followed by the Gambia being declared poliovirus-free by the World Health Organisation in 2005.
The health minister with his team of health experts are updating the press about a disease the country last registered over three decades ago; the poliovirus.
The health minister Dr. Ahmadou Lamin Samateh, reveals the presence of the Poliovirus type 2 in the country that were detected through environmental sewage sampling in Banjul and Kotu.
The Health Minister Samateh further states that evidence of sequencing results of the type 2 of the poliovirus detected, are genetically linked to those in other parts of the West Africa sub-region, including in Senegal, Mali, and Guinea.
Having detected the poliovirus type in the Gambia, the health minister declares the outbreak a National Public Health Emergency.
To break the chain of circulation of the virus, the ministry of health plans a massive polio immunization campaign and the strengthening of surveillance systems to protect the population, particularly children between zero and 59 months of age.
The poliovirus detected in the country, as in other countries in the sub-region, is also known as vaccine-derived poliovirus. This is because, the Oral polio vaccine, which was developed and administered to children, contains live virus that is weakened so that it will prompt the body’s immune response without
Causing paralysis.
The vaccine is swallowed, and the weakened virus replicates in the child’s gut, which is then excreted. We are advised to increase proper personal hygiene and environmental sanitation.
In areas with poor sanitation, weak surveillance systems and poor vaccination coverage, this excreted vaccine virus can mutate into severe strains that can spread to other children and cause serious health complications, like paralysis.
The last case of the wild poliovirus was last detected in 1987, this was followed by the Gambia being declared poliovirus-free by the World Health Organisation in 2005.