Health

After polio virus was found in London, the UK declared a state of emergency


Health authorities in the UK have declared a national incident after finding evidence of local spread of the polio virus in London.

Although health authorities point out that the use of the term “national incident” has been used to outline the scope of the problem, to date no cases of polio have been identified, and The risk to the community is low. However, health authorities recommend that anyone who has not been fully immunized against the polio virus, especially young children, get vaccinated immediately.

Dr Vanessa Saliba, consultant epidemiologist for the UK Health Security Service said: “Most of the UK population will be protected from childhood vaccinations, but in some communities. Given low vaccine coverage, individuals may still be at risk.

The last case of polio in the UK was in 1984, and the country was declared polio-free in 2003. Before the polio vaccine, the epidemic was widespread in the UK, with 8,000 cases. Polio cases are reported annually.

According to Dr. Shahin Huseynov, technical official with the World Health Organization, officials have identified the virus in several wastewater samples collected in London. diseases and vaccination programs in Europe.

Genetic analysis revealed that the samples had a common origin, most likely an individual who had traveled to the country for the New Year, Dr. Huseynov said. The last four samples collected appear to have evolved from this initial introduction, possibly in unvaccinated children.

“The significance of this finding is that even in well-developed countries, where coverage of routine immunizations is quite high, it is still important to make sure that all children have access to it,” he said. access to vaccines.

British officials are now collecting more samples and trying to determine the source of the virus. But the wastewater treatment plant identified these samples as covering about 4 million people, almost half the city, making it challenging to pinpoint the exact source.

Polio is spread most often by an infected person not washing their hands properly and then touching other people’s food or water. The virus thrives in the intestines and appears in the stools of infected people. In up to 1 percent of patients, the virus can infect the spine and cause paralysis.

“Most of the disease has no symptoms, about one in 500 children is actually paralyzed.” Dr David Heymann, an infectious disease specialist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, who previously led the WHO’s polio eradication programme.

In the UK, the polio vaccination is given with an inactivated polio virus that is injected into the body, which cannot be passed out in the stool. But some countries around the world use an oral polio vaccine that contains a live, weakened version of the virus. Vaccinated people can shed the virus in their stools for a short time, which can then turn into waste water.

That’s what health officials believe happened in this case. According to Dr. Huseynov, the virus in the samples collected was from an oral polio vaccine used to prevent outbreaks.

In recent months, that vaccine has only been used in Afghanistan, Pakistan and some countries in the Middle East and Africa, he said.

Wild polio virus has been eliminated from every country in the world, except Afghanistan and Pakistan. But vaccine-derived polio continues to cause small outbreaks, especially in communities with low vaccination rates.

“Poliovirus persists in some of the poorest regions of the world. Until it is eliminated worldwide, the risk of introduction and spread in the UK and elsewhere will continue, said Nicholas Grassly, a vaccine epidemiologist at Imperial College London.

Analysis to date suggests community transmission, most likely in young children. A less likely possibility is that a single immunocompromised person has cleared the virus for many months.

Dr Walter Orenstein, deputy director of the Emory Vaccine Center and former director of the US Immunization Program, said: “The big question is whether it is in continuous circulation in the UK or not. an immunocompromised person.

If that’s the second case, Orenstein said, “they need to find that immunocompromised person.”



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