POLIOVIRUS IN CEBU RIVER. Department of Health (DOH)-Central Visayas Regional Director Jaime Bernadas (right, in white shirt) discusses with Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes (left) and Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella (second from left) the discovery of poliovirus in Butuanon River, in an emergency meeting in Cebu City on Monday (Feb. 17, 2020). Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said samples from Butuanon River traversing Cebu City and Mandaue City tested positive of poliovirus. (Photo courtesy of Mandaue City Information Office)
CEBU CITY – Mandaue Mayor Jonas Cortes on Monday declared the three major rivers in the city as off-limits to residents after the Department of Health (DOH) tested water samples from the Butuanon River which turned out positive of poliovirus.
“We declared Butuanon, Mahiga, and Tipolo Rivers and their tributaries off-limits to the general public,” Cortes said in a statement.
Cortes made the announcement after Health Secretary Francisco Duque III stated that the DOH found samples from Butuanon River positive of poliovirus.
Duque said they are closely coordinating with the World Health Organization (WHO) for an appropriate vaccination program to prevent the virus from infecting children in the city.
“It is important that we are able to timely detect any acute onset of paralysis in children – especially within our communities. We have evidence that the poliovirus continues to spread,” Duque said.
The DOH, he said, has aimed “to promptly diagnose and treat all possible polio cases.”
Cortes said he has met with DOH-Central Visayas Regional Director Jaime Bernadas and Mayor Edgardo Labella of this city, to discuss means to contain the poliovirus in the Butuanon River, which is identified as a major waterway with a length of 10 kilometers stretching along the Metro Cebu area.
The river’s mouth is situated in this city’s hinterland villages and goes downstream, traversing several barangays in Mandaue and its water spilling over the Mactan Channel.
Cortes said he requested the DOH to identify which part of the river has been contaminated with the poliovirus in order to come up with an accurate response.
“So far, there is no reported case of poliovirus in Mandaue. But we are meeting with DOH officials through their RITM (Research Institute for Tropical Medicine) that discovered the virus to help them establish testing station so that we can identify the exact portion of the river where the virus has originated,” he said.
He suspected that the poliovirus had been transient but discovered within the samples taken from the Butuanon River.
The mayor instructed Mandaue City health office head, Dr. Rosamarie Tirado, to tap Barangay Health Workers in penetrating villages for a massive anti-polio vaccination and information drive about the disease.
He lamented that the news came out in time with the continued struggle to contain the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19).
A WHO report said children below five years old are at risk of contracting polio.
Polio (or poliomyelitis) is a disabling and life-threatening disease caused by the poliovirus, infecting a person's spinal cord, causing paralysis.
Oral polio vaccine (OPV) in doses has been found to be the effective prevention of poliovirus. (PNA)
