Britain has launched a vaccination campaign with a booster dose of the polio vaccine for those under the age of 10, after it was confirmed that the virus had spread in the British capital for the first time since the eighties. In New York, health officials said on Friday that a polio virus had been detected in its sewage system.
The UK's Health Security Agency detected 116 polioviruses from 19 wastewater samples this year in London, after first sending an alert about the virus being detected last June, according to Reuters.
The agency said last Wednesday that the levels of poliovirus detected and genetic diversity; It indicates that transmission was occurring in a number of London neighborhoods.
No cases have been detected so far, but in an effort to combat a possible outbreak, doctors will now invite children aged one to nine to get a booster dose of the vaccine, as well as a campaign that has already been announced.
Immunization rates vary across London, but on average are lower than the 95% coverage rate that the World Health Organization suggests is necessary to control polio.
New York
Health officials in the US state and city of New York said Friday that the polio virus was discovered in the city's sewage system, according to the German news agency.
The New York State Health Authority fears a second outbreak of polio, which is now completely eradicated in the United States.
City Health Department chief Ashwin Vasan urged New Yorkers to get vaccinated, saying, "The risk to New Yorkers is real, but protection is very simple. Get a polio vaccine."
Authorities noted a case that emerged last July when an unvaccinated person contracted polio in Rockland County, which borders the city, the first case in the United States in nearly a decade.
What is polio?
The World Health Organization says that “polio is a highly contagious viral disease that invades the nervous system and can completely paralyze within hours of time. The virus is transmitted by person-to-person transmission, mainly through faeces and, to a lesser extent, through a common medium (such as water or contaminated food) and multiplies in the intestine.The primary symptoms of the disease are fever, fatigue, headache, vomiting, stiff neck and pain in the extremities.1 in 200 infections lead to severe paralysis (usually affects the legs), and between 5-10% Of those who are paralyzed, they die because their respiratory muscles stop performing their functions.”
"This disease primarily affects children under the age of five, but it can infect anyone who is not vaccinated against it, regardless of their age," the WHO adds.
"There is no cure for polio; They are also given in different combinations throughout the world depending on the prevailing epidemiological conditions and locally implemented programs to ensure that the best possible protection can be provided to the population.
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