National Incident Declared in England After Poliovirus Found In London

Britain has declared a national health incident after the health authorities detected a poliovirus spread in London. However, the health officials said that there are no cases of polio identified yet.  

According to the health authorities and as published by the New York Times, the threat to the people is still very low. However, the health authorities have asked those who are not fully immunized to get the vaccine for the virus. 

According to Dr. Vanessa Saliba, an epidemiologist for the UK Health Security Agency says that most of the population is safe. But in some communities where vaccine coverage is low, people might be at risk in those areas, she added. 

Britain saw its last polio case in 1984, and the UK was declared polio-free in 2003. Before the polio vaccine, about 8,000 cases of paralysis were reported in the UK every year.  

In the routine surveillance of sewage, the country picks up poliovirus once or twice every year, but this year between February and May, the health officials have identified poliovirus several times, says Dr. Shahin Huseynov, the World Health Organization’s technical officer for vaccine-preventable diseases and immunization program in Europe.  

Dr. Huseynov says that the genetic analysis of the samples suggests a common origin. It is most likely that an individual traveled around the New Year. The last four samples suggest the virus in the initial stage suggests that the origin of the virus may be an unvaccinated child, Huseynov added.  

Since the identification of poliovirus in sewage, the British health officials are collecting different samples and are trying to identify the source of the virus. The wastewater treatment plant has identified more than 4 million samples which makes it challenging for the authorities to trace the source. 

The most common way by which polio spreads is when an infected person doesn’t maintain hygiene when they don’t wash their hands properly and touch food or water to be consumed by others. Up to one percent of cases affects the spine and cause paralysis.