Polio in Zakarpattia: Five Children Infected, One Paralyzed

All those who fell ill were not vaccinated.

Five children in Zakarpattia have been diagnosed with polio, which vaccination could have prevented. None of the infected children had received routine polio vaccinations. BBC Ukraine reports that there are two separate outbreaks where cases were detected. One of them is linked to a recent outbreak in Rivne region. 

How it started

The first case of infection was recorded in a 12-year-old girl from Tiachiv district in Zakarpattia region. On September 13, the schoolgirl developed acute intestinal disorders. Over the next three days her temperature rose, and on September 17 she developed lower back pain and a fever of 39 degrees Celsius. 

The next day, the girl could no longer stand on her leg. On September 19, she was admitted to the regional children's hospital with suspected acute flaccid paralysis. The samples collected were sent to the Public Health Center laboratory in Kyiv. 

On October 13, the 12-year-old girl was transferred from the infectious diseases ward to the neurology department. The mobility of her left leg has not yet been restored. Over the course of a year, the schoolgirl will undergo rehabilitation courses, including physiotherapy, massage and vitamin therapy. 

Restoring the lost nerve function will require a year to a year and a half of active therapy. The mother of the infected girl changed her attitude toward vaccination only after her own child fell ill. She gave permission for her other two children to be vaccinated against polio. Initially, she was categorically opposed. 

The polio infection case in the 12-year-old girl is not connected to the investigation of a paralysis case caused by poliovirus in an unvaccinated child from Rivne region. During the investigation, another outbreak was identified, but its location is not being disclosed for ethical reasons. 

As in the first case, none of the children had been vaccinated against polio. The difference in this case is that the parents refuse vaccination on religious grounds. 

Anti-vaccination campaign

The current generation of parents in Ukraine does not know what polio is. Nearly every adult received a full course of polio vaccinations in childhood. However, as recently as the 1950s, thousands of children remained disabled as a result of the disease. 

Family doctors work with age groups that fall under the routine vaccination schedule recommendations, as well as with groups that previously refused vaccination. Most refusals are linked to religious views. 

Ukraine has registered high-quality certified vaccines, but the anti-vaccination campaign in the media and on social networks is stronger than the vaccination campaign. The last time polio was recorded in Zakarpattia was in 2015: one child was four years old, and the other was 10 months old. 

Both children had not been vaccinated. However, the Zakarpattia Sanitary and Epidemiological Service did not believe these cases clearly indicated polio. 

What is polio

It is an acute infectious disease caused by poliovirus. The virus is transmitted from person to person through saliva and feces, especially through contaminated food and water. The virus enters the body through the mouth, enters the bloodstream and damages the nervous system, often causing paralysis. 

Early symptoms include fever, fatigue, headache, vomiting, weakness in the neck muscles and pain in the limbs. Paralysis can set in within a few hours. It often affects the legs, but one in ten patients dies from suffocation as a result of paralysis of the respiratory muscles. 

UNICEF reports that one in every 200 infected people remains paralyzed for life. Others are infected without symptoms but can still pass the disease on. Any unvaccinated person can become ill, both children and adults. 

Children under the age of five are considered the most vulnerable. The only way to protect against the consequences of the disease is vaccination, as there is no specific treatment.