Many of us non-healthcare workers would have probably heard of this term from the shows Grey’s Anatomy or House. Well, for those who have never watched any of the two shows (uncultured much), it is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus which can invade the nervous system and can cause total paralysis in a matter of hours, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Recently, Singapore witnessed an imported polio case with the patient being a five-month-old infant.
The Imported Polio Case
The five-month-old female Indonesian infant arrived in Singapore on 26 January and was medically evacuated for treatment. She was directly admitted to the National University Hospital (NUH).
According to the Ministry of Health (MOH), the patient is immunocompromised. In layman’s terms, it means her immune system was too weak to fight off infections to protect the body.
In December 2024, she came down with a fever, developed acute floppiness and her lower limbs were paralysed while in Indonesia. Back then, her doctor had not suspected this was a polio case.
Fortunately, the patient is currently in a stable condition. She was isolated upon admission and was immediately placed under the appropriate infection prevention and control precautions once suspected of polio. Furthermore, her family members or caregivers who were in close contact with her were quarantined as a precautionary measure.
Hence, rest assured that there is a low risk of community transmission as indicated by MOH’s findings.
The Culprit
Polio is caused by the poliovirus and is mainly transmitted through food infected with faecal material.
Well, believe it or not, the source of poliovirus in this case is the very vaccine for polio: oral polio vaccine (OPV).
Anti-vax supporters: That is exactly why we are how we are!
It is not the time for this, could you please let me finish?
There are two vaccines for polio – OPV, which contains live but weakened poliovirus, and inactivated polio vaccine (IPV), which does not contain any live poliovirus as its name suggests. The five-month-old patient was previously vaccinated with one dose of oral polio vaccine (OPV) and one dose of inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) in Indonesia.
Do note that such cases of vaccine-associated polio upon receiving OPV are extremely rare. As the risk is higher for immunocompromised persons like the infant, IPV is recommended instead of OPV.
More on Polio Vaccines
Many countries have progressively switched from OPV to IPV, and Singapore stopped using OPV in 2021.
Under the National Childhood Immunisation Schedule (NCIS), children receive a total of five vaccine doses against polio – three IPV doses for infants at two months, four months, and six months, with another two booster doses of IPV at 18 months and 10 to 11 years old respectively.
The IPV carries no risk of vaccine-associated polio as it does not contain any live virus. Vaccinations in the NCIS are available free to all Singaporean children at Community Health Assist Scheme General Practitioner clinics and polyclinics.
While vaccination remains the most effective protection against polio, maintaining high standards of hygiene and sanitation is equally important to prevent transmission of the poliovirus.
If you watch at least 10 minutes of brain rot content daily, you must know this:
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