In the UK, children are regularly vaccinated against poliomyelitis, but in London the vaccination rate is lower than the national average. British health officials have announced that a significant amount of the polio virus has been found in London’s sewage.
The disease was widespread in the United Kingdom in the 1950s, but by 2003 the morbidity rate had been reduced to zero. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has stated that the risk to the general public is very low, but has nonetheless launched an investigation into the case.
The UKHSA believes that the virus likely entered the capital with someone who had recently received a live virus vaccination abroad. Doctors confirm that the risk of disease is low, but at the same time they emphasize the need for children to be fully vaccinated. Parents should make sure that this is done.
“The majority of the population in the United Kingdom has been vaccinated in childhood and is protected against poliomyelitis, but in some communities with low vaccination coverage, people may still be at risk,” said Dr. Vanessa Saliba, an epidemiologist adviser to the agency.
The polio vaccine is used in the United Kingdom as part of the regular childhood immunization program. Children receive the vaccine three times: before they are one year old, then at three and fourteen years of age. At the same time, about 86% of children in London have received the first three vaccines, well below the required level. In the rest of the UK, this indicator exceeds 90%.
Health officials, concerned about the situation in London, reported it to the World Health Organization. Over the past four months, the British Health Protection Agency has detected the poliomyelitis virus in samples taken from Becton’s wastewater treatment plants, which serve a population of four million in north and east London. Scientists believe the virus came from someone who received a live virus-based oral polio vaccine abroad. This type of vaccine has not been used in the United Kingdom since 2004.
Traces of the virus entered the sewer system with the waste from this person’s activities and were subsequently detected in wastewater samples. In rare cases, this form of the virus can then be transmitted to others and mutate. This form is known as vaccine-derived poliomyelitis. Although vaccine-derived polio is weaker than the original form of the disease, it can still cause serious illness, including paralysis, in unvaccinated individuals.
A small number of samples of the poliomyelitis virus are found in wastewater samples each year, but this is the first time that a group of genetically related samples has been found several times in a row over several months. Doctors say this indicates that several closely related carriers of the virus have been spreading it for some time. However, no actual cases of polio have been detected in the United Kingdom, nor have there been any reports of serious symptoms of the disease.
Jane Klegg, Chief Nurse of the National Health Service in London, has reported that the NHS will be contacting parents of children under the age of five in London who are behind on their immunization schedule.
Polio is a rare disease. It is spread when an infected person does not wash his or her hands after using the toilet and then touches food or water consumed by others or, in rarer cases, through airborne droplets. The majority of patients are asymptomatic and do not even know they are sick. Some people experience flu-like symptoms that can last up to three weeks. In very rare cases, probably 1 in 100 to 1 in 1000 patients, the poliomyelitis virus attacks the nerves in the spinal cord and base of the brain. This can lead to paralysis, usually of the legs. In extremely rare cases, the disease can affect the respiratory muscles and be life-threatening.
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