The Federal Government says there is no new case of polio in the country.
Acting Executive-Director the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Emmanuel Odu, who stated this at a press conference in Abuja on Thursday, debunked claims that a two-year-old boy in Cross River State had been deformed by the disease.
According to him, the NPHCDA came to conclusion that the boy was not affected with the virus based on reports given by assessment teams sent to Odukpani, the child’s village in Cross River.
He said, “The features found on this child were not consistent with those of poliomyelitis.
“The two-year-old male child had a history of deformity, a twisted right foot, which was observed at birth, which was attended to by a local bone- setter when he was three weeks.
“The boy had also taken, at least, six doses of polio vaccine since birth and had no recent fevers.
“Assessors found the boy had a clubfoot in his right leg, a condition in which one or both feet are twisted into an abnormal position, usually at birth.
“By contrast, a leg paralysed by polio is flaccid—loose, weak, flabby and soft.
“There is no case of polio paralysis in Cross River and across the country, except for those we encountered in August,” Odu concluded.
After 24 months of being polio-free, three children were confirmed to have been paralysed by the disease in Borno in August 2016.
The cases were traced to Gwoza, Jere and Monguno local government areas once controlled by Boko Haram.
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