MANILA, Philippines – Three more polio cases in the country were detected and subsequently confirmed by the Department of Health (DOH) Thursday (21 November 2019) raising further the count of the dreaded illness to seven in recent months.

In its advisory, the DOH said that based on a review conducted by the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) and the National Institute of Infectious Diseases-Japan, the three young victims, all admitted at the Cotabato Regional Medical Cente, appeared to be polioviruses.

They include a two-year-old girl from Maguindanao; a one-year-old boy from Cotabato City and a four-year-old girl from North Cotabato.

According to the DOH, the polio vaccine did not provide the first two cases of the disease while the latter did not complete the vaccine.

With the new cases, there are now seven confirmed cases of polio nationwide.

The DOH has ensured that their immunization program is ongoing, not only in Mindanao where there are confirmed cases of polio, but in other parts of the Philippines. (Cate Pallarco/IAMIGO/CNS)