The polio virus is a highly contagious person-to-person disease spread mainly through the fecal-oral route or, sometimes less commonly, by contaminated water or food. The virus then multiplies in the gut, from where it can invade the nervous system and cause paralysis. Usually the virus attacks children, causing muscle weakness and paralysis, but in some cases patients will suffer permanent disability or death. Once prevalent in the 1950s, the virus was brought under control in the US by a national vaccination launched in the mid-1950s. It led to its eradication in 1979, when the US was declared polio-free. In the United Kingdom the last case was recorded in 1984. Originally the polio vaccine was a weakened version of the polio virus given in the form of drops, and those people of a certain age will remember being given a polio sugar cube as children, the method invented by Dr. Albert Sabin, of the Children’s Hospital Research Foundation in Cincinnati, Ohio. Today most countries in the developed world use “inactivated polio” injections as opposed to oral drops because the “live” weakened virus in the drops causes a mild stomach infection that while building the host’s immunity, the weakened “live” virus is eliminated also. in faeces in the environment. This in turn can lead to further mild infections within the community. Mouth drops are still used by many countries in the developing world as a cheap way to deal with outbreaks and create herd immunity. The strain of polio virus detected in sewage systems in New York and London has been identified as a mutated form of vaccine-derived polio virus carried to the respective cities by foreign travelers. Given vaccine reluctance in recent years to follow health advisories about vaccinations, this new strain of polio could resurface if left unchecked, and current infections are expected to be much larger than the case identified in Rockland County . Dr. Patricia Schnabel Ruppert, health commissioner for Rockland County, said she is concerned about polio circulating in her state undetected. “There is not just one case of polio if you see one case of paralysis. The incidence of paralytic polio is less than 1%,” he told the BBC. “Most cases are asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic and these symptoms are often missed. So there are hundreds, maybe even thousands of cases that have happened to see a case of paralysis.’ As the polio vaccine continues to be included in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) standard childhood immunization schedule, those who have already been vaccinated are not considered to be at significant risk. While there is a low risk of the polio virus emerging in sewage, there is an easy solution to eradicating it both here in the UK and across the pond. Health officials are sending a clear message to check you are up to date with your vaccinations and ensure children’s regular vaccinations have not been neglected during the Covid pandemic disruption. In addition, children aged 1 to 9 in London are being offered a dose of polio vaccine by the UK government’s polio booster campaign. Latest posts from Hippocratic Post (see all)
