“No circumstances of polio have been reported and for almost all of the inhabitants, who’re absolutely vaccinated, the chance is low. However we all know the areas in London the place the poliovirus is being transmitted have a number of the lowest vaccination charges,” Vanessa Saliba, an epidemiologist on the company, stated in an announcement.
Polio was a fearsome, generally deadly scourge earlier than an inactivated vaccine was first introduced in 1955. The virus causes everlasting paralysis in people who find themselves not absolutely vaccinated in about 5 out of each 1,000 circumstances. The final case of polio in Britain was detected in 1984. Earlier than mass vaccination, roughly 8,000 folks in Britain developed paralysis from it yearly.
The US not too long ago recorded its first case of polio in almost a decade. The unvaccinated 20-year-old man from Rockland County sought therapy in a New York Metropolis hospital in June. He has since been discharged however is having problem strolling.
The virus has additionally been detected in wastewater within the northern New York Metropolis suburbs of Rockland and Orange counties, which the New York State Division of Well being stated indicated wider native transmission.
A lot of the U.S. inhabitants is protected in opposition to the illness via vaccinations in childhood. However in areas with low vaccination protection, such because the ultra-Orthodox Jewish group in Rockland County, individuals who haven’t been immunized are at excessive danger. There isn’t any therapy for polio.
British well being officers stated Wednesday that they’re working carefully with well being businesses in New York and Israel, in addition to the World Well being Group, to research any hyperlinks between the poliovirus detected in London and up to date incidents within the different two nations.
Since early February, 116 polioviruses had been recognized in 19 wastewater samples from areas in northeast and central London. However just a few have enough mutations to be categorised as vaccine-derived poliovirus, or VDPV2, the Well being Safety Company stated.
Well being officers think about VDPV2 to be of “higher concern” due to the similarities with naturally occurring “wild” polio. Unvaccinated individuals who contract it have a small likelihood of changing into paralyzed.
Many nations present an extra dose of the polio vaccine to youngsters, British well being officers stated.
Lenny Bernstein contributed to this report.