Scientists in Britain have detected multiple versions of the virus in wastewater. Officials say the risk to the public is extremely low and urge people to ensure their polio vaccines are up to date.
View of the London Beckton Sewage Treatment Works. Between February and May, U.K. scientists found several samples containing closely related versions of the polio virus in wastewater at the plant.
So far, there have been no cases of polio detected directly in the U.K. But instead, scientists have discovered the outbreak through an indirect route. They've found multiple versions of the virus in sewage water, the U.K. Health Security AgencyThe risk to the general public is extremely low, the agency said, because the vast majority of people in Britain are vaccinated against polio during childhood – and therefore protected against infection.Between February and May, U.K.
People infected with polio, or who have been vaccinated with a live version of the virus, shed traces of the virus in their stool – which eventually end up in sewage wastewater. So the current hypothesis is that an infected person brought the virus into London and then spread it to others who weren't immunized., who studies polio at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada."The outbreak could be within an extended family.
Polio causes permanent paralysis in people who are not fully vaccinated in about 5 out of every 1,000 cases. Polio spreads through the fecal-oral route. That is, when a person accidentally consumes infected stool.The pandemic has given polio the opportunity to come surging back in many countries, Rasmussen says, because it disrupted childhood vaccination programs around the world.
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