Alone, health may not be able to prevent infantile paralysis – 10/07/2018 – Cláudia Collucci



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I have two cousins ​​and five friends who bear the aftermath of infantile paralysis. Because we belong to the same age group, I still think that I could have also been a victim of this cruel illness.

That's why the low immunization against polio that the country has registered causes me: 312 cities have not vaccinated half of the children a year in 2017.

This is very serious because the virus has spread to 23 countries in the last three years. One of the cases, in our neighbor Venezuela

Measles, which came back circulating in Brazil after being eliminated, has already shown that for viruses there are no borders.

With regard to poliomyelitis, the country will complete next year three decades after the registration of the last case of Souza (Paraíba). It should be remembered that between the 1960s and 1980s there were approximately 27,000 cases in Brazil.

The Ministry of Health states that the eradication of polio has created a false sense that vaccination is no longer necessary.

As much as I try, I do not understand what is happening in the heads of families who deliberately choose not to vaccinate their children against diseases that can kill them or leave them seriously. .

Perhaps it was necessary to revive the memory of a not so distant past, showing the devastating images of crippled children's stands in public hospitals, in the so-called "lungs". "steel", as can be seen in the photo above. In the 1920s, the machine looked like an oven. Children with respiratory failure caused by the polio virus have been placed inside, head out

Who wants to know a little more about this sad chapter in the history of Brazilian public health or, perhaps, for an anti-fungal friend I suggest the book "Lung of Steel – A Life in the Biggest Hospital of Brazil" (Belaletra Editora), written by the incredible Eliana Zagui, who has lived for 42 years in an intensive care bed at the Hospital das Clínicas de São Paulo.

Between 1955 and the late 1970s, 5,789 children with childhood paralysis were admitted to CH. Many are dead. Eliana, 44, and Paulo Machado, 49, her roommate, both dependent on artificial respiration, were the only survivors of a group of seven ICU children who became friends

. more a personal choice. This is a public health problem. With the fall of vaccination, groups of sensitive people are created, which allow the circulation of viruses and bacteria.

This will affect not only those who have chosen not to vaccinate their children, but also those who can not be vaccinated for health reasons or for babies who are not yet old for vaccination. Therefore, the more we immunize people, the more we talk about "collective immunity".

Alone, perhaps the action of epidemiological surveillance teams, public health campaigns and alerts made by journalism professionals and companies to prevent the return of polio. The volume of dangerous nonsense circulating on social networks spreading fears, myths and lies about vaccines is immense

. Multi-sectoral actions are therefore needed, starting with schools and day centers requiring an updated vaccination certificate.

Perhaps, with a collective effort, he still gives time to prevent innocent children from falling into the irresponsibility and ignorance of others.

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