British health officials have sounded the alarm after traces of the polio virus, which was declared eradicated from England in 2003, were found in London sewers.
The UK Health and Safety Executive (UKHSA) said the virus was detected in samples taken between February and June at Becton Sewerage, which serves around four million people north and east of the capital.
The detection of this poliovirus “suggests that there may have been some transmission between closely related people in north and east London”, says the UKHSA, although it has so far not identified any cases of an infected person, only the virus. Found in a UK sewer.
It is “normal” for one to three cases to be diagnosed per year, especially since vaccinations are given abroad with oral vaccines, which are made with live virus and leave traces in the stool.
But this time the samples indicate the presence of a virus that continues to evolve and is now classified as “vaccine-acquired poliovirus type 2,” which can cause severe symptoms such as paralysis in unvaccinated people.
According to officials, the majority of people were vaccinated in childhood, but there are some communities with low levels of vaccination, where the risk of infection is high, so people are asked to consult the bulletins and update their vaccinations.
According to the BBC, only 86% of residents in London have had three doses of the vaccine, compared to more than 92% in the rest of the United Kingdom.
The health agency believes the virus may have arrived in the UK from someone who was vaccinated in Afghanistan, Pakistan or Nigeria earlier this year and that person may have infected other people.
The UKHSA urged doctors and health professionals to “investigate and report in detail suspected cases of acute flaccid paralysis” that cannot be explained by non-infectious causes.
It calls on health centers to check that patients have received polio vaccinations, as well as to place “special emphasis” on vaccinating “new migrants, asylum seekers and refugees”.
Poliomyelitis is an incurable infectious disease that mainly affects children under the age of five and can only be prevented by vaccination. In some cases, it can cause joint paralysis. The virus is easily spread when an infected person coughs or sneezes, and it is also spread through food or water that has come into contact with the feces of an infected person.
The last case of polio in the UK was recorded in 1984 and the virus was declared eradicated in the country in 2003. Although eliminated in most of the world thanks to a massive vaccination program, poliovirus persists mainly in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
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