Polio back in UK after virus detected in London sewage samples
- A type of polio virus derived from vaccines has been detected in London sewage samples
- The UK’s last case of wild polio was in 1984 and the country was declared polio-free in 2003
Health officials in Britain warned parents to ensure their children have been vaccinated against polio after the virus that causes the disease was found in London sewage samples in recent months.
The UK Health Security Agency said it believes the virus was “vaccine-derived”, meaning it came from someone who received the live polio vaccine abroad. That person would then have passed the virus to closely linked individuals in London, who shed the virus into their faeces.
The UK stopped using the live oral polio vaccine in 2004 and switched to an inactivated version.
Polio, which was officially eradicated in the UK in 2003, can cause paralysis in rare cases and can be life-threatening.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid said he was “not particularly worried” about the news, while health authorities stressed that the risk to the public overall is “extremely low”. They added that the virus has been detected only in sewage samples, and no cases of paralysis have been reported.
Still, health authorities have established a “national incident” to check for cases elsewhere as a precaution.