British health officials urged people Wednesday to ensure they are vaccinated for polio after the virus that stoked panic decades ago was recently detected during routine wastewater surveillance in London.
What You Need To Know
- British health officials urged people Wednesday to ensure they are vaccinated for polio after the virus that stoked panic decades ago was recently detected during routine wastewater surveillance in London
- Investigators say samples taken between February and May show the virus has been evolving, suggesting there likely has been spread between individuals
- The agency, however, stressed the virus has only been detected to date in wastewater samples and there have been no related cases of paralysis
- Health officials said because of the high polio vaccination rate in the area, the risk to the public is extremely low
The U.K. Health Security Agency explained that sewage testing usually finds one to three “vaccine-like” polioviruses a year, “one-off findings” health officials believe are likely from individuals who were vaccinated overseas with an oral polio vaccine and then shed traces of the virus in their feces while in Britain.
But investigators say samples taken between February and May show the virus has been evolving.
“The detection … suggests it is likely there has been some spread between closely-linked individuals in North and East London and that they are now shedding the type 2 poliovirus strain in their faeces,” a UKHSA advisory said.
The agency, however, stressed the virus has only been detected to date in wastewater samples and there have been no related cases of paralysis.
Health officials said because of the high polio vaccination rate in the area, the risk to the public is extremely low. The World Health Organization said about 87% of London residents are believed to be inoculated.
“The majority of Londoners are fully protected against Polio and won’t need to take any further action, but the NHS will begin reaching out to parents of children aged under 5 in London who are not up to date with their Polio vaccinations to invite them to get protected,” Jane Clegg, chief nurse for the NHS in London, said in a statement.
The last case of polio contracted in the United Kingdom was confirmed in 1984, and Britain was declared polio-free in 2003.
No polio cases have originated in the United States in 1979, and the last time an international traveler brought the virus into the country was in 1993.
Polio is a viral disease that large affects children under 5 and, in severe cases, can cause nerve damage leading to paralysis. It is spread through contact with an infected person’s stool or droplets from a sneeze or cough.
In the late 1940s, polio paralyzed more than 35,000 people a year in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The first vaccine was made available in 1955.
There were 688 confirmed polio cases worldwide in 2021, with cases largely being in Africa and the Middle East, according to the CDC.
