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Health authorities in England declared it a national event after they found evidence of local spread of the polio virus in London.
No cases of polio have been detected so far and the risk to the public is low, although health officials have noted that the term “national event” is used to outline the extent of the issue. But health officials urged anyone who hasn’t been fully vaccinated against the polio virus, especially young children, to seek vaccinations immediately.
UK Health Security Agency consultant epidemiologist Dr. “Most of the UK population will be protected from vaccination during childhood, but in some communities where vaccination coverage is low, individuals may be at risk,” said Vanessa Saliba.
The last polio case in Britain was in 1984, and the country was declared polio-free in 2003. Before the introduction of the polio vaccine, epidemics were common in England, with up to 8,000 cases of strokes reported each year.
Routine surveillance of the nation’s sewers picks up the polio virus once or twice a year, but Dr. According to Shahin Huseynov, authorities detected the virus in several samples collected in London between February and May. Diseases and immunization program in Europe.
Dr. Genetic analyzes suggest that the specimens have a common origin, most likely an individual who traveled to the country around New Year’s, Huseynov said. The last four specimens collected appear to have evolved from this initial entry, possibly in unvaccinated children.
“The significance of this finding is that even in developed countries where normal vaccine coverage is quite high, it is still important to ensure that all children have access to vaccines,” he said.
British authorities are now collecting additional samples and trying to determine the source of the virus. But the wastewater treatment plant that identified the samples includes nearly 4 million people, almost half of the city, making it difficult to pinpoint the source.
Polio is most commonly spread by an infected person who does not wash their hands properly and then touches food or water that someone else has eaten. The virus grows in the gut and occurs in the stool of infected people. In up to 1 percent of patients, the virus can infect the spine and cause paralysis.
“Most of the disease is asymptomatic, actually just one in 500 children who are paralyzed,” he said. Dr., an infectious disease specialist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, who previously led WHO’s polio eradication programme. David Heyman.
In Britain, immunization for polio is carried out with an injected inactivated polio virus that cannot be excreted through the faeces. But some countries of the world rely on an oral polio vaccine that contains a live, attenuated version of the virus. Vaccinated people can pass this virus in their faeces for a short time, and this virus can then end up in the sewers.
This is what health officials believed was the case. Dr. According to Huseynov, the virus in the samples collected came from a type of oral polio vaccine used to control outbreaks.
He said that in recent months this type of vaccine has only been used in Afghanistan, Pakistan and some countries in the Middle East and Africa.
The wild polio virus has been cleared from every country in the world except Afghanistan and Pakistan. But vaccine-induced polio continues to cause small outbreaks, particularly in communities with low vaccine coverage.
“Polio continues in some of the poorest parts of the world. Until it is eradicated worldwide, the risk of importation and spread will remain in the UK and elsewhere,” said Nicholas Grassly, a vaccine epidemiologist at Imperial College London.
Analysis so far suggests community transmission, most likely among young children. A less likely possibility is that a single immunocompromised person will shed the virus for months.
D., deputy director of the Emory Vaccine Center and former director of the United States Immunization Program. “The big question here is whether it’s constantly wandering around the UK or whether it’s an immune-compromised person,” Walter Orenstein said.
If it’s the latter, Orenstein said, “they need to find that immunocompromised person.”
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