Polio could resurge in Mexico

• April 29, 2024

In Mexico for 20 years there are no cases of poliomyelitis , due to the implementation of vaccination campaigns and close epidemiological surveillance, with immunization governing bodies.

However, Mauricio Hernández Ávila, Undersecretary of Prevention and Promotion of Ssa, acknowledged that there is a risk that this disease resurfaces , since there are still countries that register cases.

In this regard, PAHO reports that the countries that are endemically active for polio in the world are Nigeria, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Even countries like Somalia, Cameroon, Angola, Kenya, Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Nepal, Congo and Nigeria have imported cases, which shows that any country is at risk, which is why the complete eradication of polio must be a important issue for all the governments of the world. In that sense, Mauricio Hernández added that poliomyelitis is a current global public health problem, so he proposed to regulate the polio vaccination for travelers to endemic countries, in order to prevent the spread.

Polio in Mexico

In view of this situation, Hernández Ávila indicated that Mexico continues with the Universal Vaccination Scheme, which reaches immunization coverage greater than 95% in children under 4 years of age.

He pointed out that the Poliomyelitis Eradication Program , is aimed at maintaining high vaccination coverage and the quality epidemiological surveillance system.

He explained that the post polio syndrome , is a condition suffered by 20 to 40% of people who survived polio. Its symptoms disable both work activity and daily life.