<?php

$dsn = "mysql:host=$host;dbname=$db;charset=$charset";

   $opt = [
        PDO::ATTR_ERRMODE            => PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION,
        PDO::ATTR_DEFAULT_FETCH_MODE => PDO::FETCH_NUM ,
        PDO::ATTR_EMULATE_PREPARES   => false,
    ];

$pdo = new PDO($dsn, $user, $pass, $opt);

$stmt = $pdo->prepare('SELECT id FROM dbCountries WHERE name LIKE '%:country%' OR alias LIKE '%:country%' ');
$countrysId= $stmt->execute(array('country' => $first));
var_dump ($countrysId);