ACCRA, Aug. 23 (Xinhua) -- The Ghana Health Service (GHS) on Friday said it was working with its partners to contain an outbreak of polio in Chereponi, some 610 km north of Accra, the first in Ghana for over one decade, and to prevent and protect against its spread.

The assurance follows the national polio laboratory confirmation of an outbreak in the area after stool samples from a two-year-eight-month-old girl, who was seen at the hospital with sudden onset of weakness in both lower limbs, tested positive.

In a statement, signed by its Director-General, Anthony Nsiah-Asare, the GHS said it had taken immediate actions including the deployment of a national team to assist health professionals in the locale to carry out a detailed investigation.

It has also mapped out areas at risk and conducted reactive vaccination campaign in the affected and adjoining high-risk districts following approval from the polio advisory group for monovalent oral polio vaccine type 2.

"The global community is in the polio end-game and a case of polio constitutes a public health emergency of national concern. Consequently, this event at Chereponi constitute public health emergency of national concern," said the release.

It urged the general public to practice good personal and environmental sanitation while advising parents to observe closely, symptoms of polio in their children and report to the nearest facility for immediate medical attention.

Poliomyelitis is highly infectious which mainly affects young children and children under five are most at risk. Enditem

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