The United Kingdom Health Insurance Agency (UKHSA) said waste from the Beckton sewage treatment plant in Newham tested positive for the vaccine-derived polio virus and that further positive samples have since been detected. No cases of the disease or related paralysis have been reported and the risk to the general public is considered low, but public health officials have urged people to make sure they and their families are aware of polio vaccinations to reduce the risk of harm. “Vaccine-borne polio virus has the potential to spread, especially in communities where vaccine intake is lower,” said Dr Vanessa Saliba, UKHSA epidemiologist. “In rare cases it can cause paralysis in people who are not fully vaccinated, so if you or your child are not aware of the polio vaccine, it is important to contact your doctor to prevent the difference or if you are not. sure, check your red book “. “Most of the UK population will be protected from childhood vaccination, but in some communities with low vaccine coverage, people may remain at risk,” he added. UK sewage tests usually detect a handful of unrelated polio viruses each year. These come from people who have received the oral polio vaccine in another country and then travel to the United Kingdom. People who receive the oral vaccine can eliminate the attenuated live virus used in the vaccine in their stool for several weeks. The London samples, which were detected in February, sounded the alarm because they were related to each other and contained mutations that suggested the virus was evolving as it spread from person to person. The outbreak is believed to have been triggered by a man who returned to the UK after taking the oral polio vaccine and spreading it locally. It is not clear how much the virus has spread, but it may be confined to a single household or extended family. The polio virus can be transmitted through poor hand hygiene and contaminated food and water, or less often through coughing and sneezing. A common route of transmission is for people to infect their hands after using the toilet and then transmit the virus by touching food consumed by others. While the UK generally has a good absorption of the polio vaccine, with 95% of five-year-olds having been vaccinated, coverage lags behind in London, with only 91.2% of children being vaccinated in this age group. In response to the detection of the virus, the NHS will contact the parents of children who are not aware of the polio vaccine. Most people infected with polio have no symptoms, but some develop a flu-like illness up to three weeks later. Between one in 100 and one in 1,000 infections, the virus attacks the nerves of the spine and the base of the brain, which can lead to paralysis, most often in the legs. In rare cases, the virus attacks muscles used for breathing, which can be fatal. The UK changed from using its oral polio vaccine (OPV) to an inactivated polio vaccine (IPV), which is given by injection in 2004. The vaccines are given in standard NHS childhood vaccinations at 16, 12 and 8 weeks. part of 6-vaccine to 1. The supplements are offered at the age of three and 14 years. The UKHSA is now analyzing samples of sewage from local areas that supply the Beckton plant to limit where the virus is spreading. If these tests identify the center of the epidemic, public health teams may offer a polio vaccine to those at risk. Subscribe to the First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every morning at 7 p.m. BST Professor Nicholas Grassly, head of the vaccine epidemiology research team at Imperial College London, said: “Polio is a disease that persists in some of the poorest parts of the world and the United Kingdom detects the introduction of the virus quite often during testing. wastewater routine. . “In this case, there is concern that the virus may be circulating locally in London and spreading more widely. Fortunately, so far no one has developed symptoms of the disease, which affects only about 1 in 200 people who are infected, but it is important that children are fully informed about the polio vaccine. “Until polio is eradicated worldwide, we will continue to address this threat of infectious diseases.”
