Polio is an early disabling disease in children. The detection of the polio virus in New York’s sewage shows that the disease is secretly spreading to people who are not vaccinated. The New York State Department of Health and the city said the detection of the polio virus in its sewage indicated it was likely to spread locally. Provincial Health Commissioner Dr. Mary T. Bassett said the discovery of the polio virus in sewage samples in New York City was alarming but not terrifying.
Different strains of polio
There are mainly two strains of the polio virus. A highly lethal and contagious variant is now extinct, while the other vaccine-derived poliomyelitis (vaccine-derived poliomyelitis) is reported to be rare. This second strain has been found in the sewage of the UK capital, London, and the US city of New York. In Jerusalem, Israel, a genetically similar virus was found in London and New York. In places like London and New York, cases of vaccine-derived polio have not been reported before. However, it is widespread in other countries. In 2021 alone, 415 cases of infections with this variant have been reported in Nigeria. The live virus, which arrived in the children’s bodies as a vaccine, comes out of their feces after a few weeks. In countries where vaccination has declined, this virus can spread again and mutate to become harmful.
The vaccine containing this live virus is no longer used in countries such as Britain and America. Especially now that post-Covid-19 travel-related restrictions have ended again.
Why is polio spreading now?
Derek Ehrhardt, global head of polio at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the US, says experts agree that vaccine-derived polio strains and wild polio strains still exist in low-vaccination populations. According to the United Nations, 1081 vaccine-derived polio cases were reported in 2020, compared to three times fewer cases in the previous year, i.e. 2019. However, even in the year 2022, 177 cases have been reported so far. This is of even greater concern, especially for developing countries like India, because our neighboring countries, Pakistan and Afghanistan, are still battling polio infection.
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