Nigerian doctor working in the Virgin Islands Dr Stephen Patrick said that the emphasis must remain on prevention of polio rather than treating persons after the fact as even if they survive the viral disease, there is still an impact on their lives as changes to their appearance can lead to a life of stigma and discrimination. Photo: VINO

A child being administered a polio vaccine in Nigeria. Photo: www.humanosphere.org

Dr Patrick was responding to questions from this news site during a special meeting of the Rotary Club of Road Town held at Fort Burt Hotel on Saturday October 24, 2015.

It was on the occasion of Nigeria achieving its polio-free status and to mark the collaboration from Rotary International with other health agencies in bringing relief to the West African nation of a population of 170 million.

Prevention strategies outweigh treatment options

Dr Patrick acknowledged that the bulk of funds go to prevent the disease which is debilitating to the nervous system and can cause paralysis.

“One of the major cause of death…preventable causes of death, is the polio virus itself. That is why the Rotary Club and other multinational agencies put so much money into this to allow young ones who are innocent and now growing to see life and flourish,” he said.

However, he pointed out the fact that while the disease could be deadly, it does not have to be. “Polio doesn’t kill everybody. The body can fight it but all you need is treatment. The emphasis is basically on prevention and not so much on its treatment is that you don’t have to catch it,” he said.

“It is a winning policy and 98 percent of the world has already eradicated it completely by that emphasis of prevention,” he said.

He said that with regard to research for a cure for the disease he said that he did not know of any as for the most part the emphasis is and always has been on prevention of the disease.

Present post polio research may 'one day' help persons

According to an article on Medicinenet.com, scientists are working on a variety of investigations that may one day help individuals with post-polio syndrome.

“Some basic researchers are studying the behaviour of motor neurons many years after a polio attack. Others are looking at the mechanisms of fatigue and are trying to discover the role played by the brain, spinal cord, peripheral nerves, the neuromuscular junction (the site where a nerve cell meets the muscle cell it helps activate), and the muscles,” the article pointed out.