The UK Health and Safety Agency (UKHSA) said the virus was detected in samples taken between February and June at the Pecton sewer, which serves about four million people in the north and east of the capital.
The UKHSA says its detection of the polio virus “suggests there may have been some outbreak between people with close ties in north and east London”, although so far it has not identified any cases of the infected person, only the virus. Found in the sewer.
Until now it has been “normal” to be diagnosed with one to three cases per year by people who are vaccinated abroad by oral vaccines made with live virus that can leave traces in the stool.
However, this method suggests that the evidence is for a virus that has continued to develop and is now classified as a “vaccine-derived type 2 poliovirus” that can cause severe symptoms such as stroke in those who are not vaccinated.
According to officials, the majority of people were vaccinated against the disease in childhood, but some communities have low-level vaccines, which increase the risk of infection, so people are being asked to look at bulletins and renew vaccines. .
According to the BBC, only 86% of Londoners take the three doses, which is 92% higher than in other parts of the UK.
The health agency believes the virus may have come to the UK from someone who was vaccinated in Afghanistan, Pakistan or Nigeria earlier this year and that person may have infected other people.
The UKHSA urged physicians and health professionals to “investigate and report suspicious cases of acute renal failure in detail,” which could not be explained by non-infectious causes.
It calls on health centers to check whether patients have been vaccinated against polio, and to give “special importance” to vaccinating “new immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees”.
Polio is an incurable disease that mainly affects children under the age of five and can only be prevented by vaccination.
In some cases, this can cause limb paralysis.
The virus is easily transmitted when an infected person coughs or sneezes, and it can also be spread through food or water that comes in contact with an infected person’s stool.
The last case of polio in the UK was reported in 1984 and the virus was declared eradicated in 2003.
Although eradicated in most parts of the world due to a major vaccination program, the polio virus persists mainly in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
