Wednesday 22 June 2022 04:59 PM Can I take the polio vaccine if I missed out as a child? What are the virus' ... trends now
Polio may be spreading in the UK for the first time in nearly 40 years, health chiefs warned today as they declared a 'national incident'.
Officials have found traces of a vaccine-derived version of the virus in sewage samples in parts of London and say it is 'likely' transmitting within the community.
Parents are being urged to ensure their children are up to date with their polio vaccinations, particularly after the pandemic when school immunisation schemes were disrupted.
All British children are supposed to have had the first of three polio jabs as a baby, but uptake in London lags behind the rest of the country.
But health officials insist the risk to the public overall is 'extremely low', with urgent investigations now underway to find anyone who has been infected.
Here is everything you need to know about the UK polio situation so far:
The polio vaccine is given at age eight, 12 and 16 weeks as part of the six-in-one vaccine and then again at three years as part of a pre-school booster. The final course is given at age 14. The World Health Organization has set the threshold of a successful school jabs programme at 95 per cent uptake, which England is failing to hit by all accounts
Wasn't polio eradicated?
There are three versions of wild polio – type one, two and three.
Type two was eradicated in 1999 and no cases of type three have been detected since November 2012, when it was spotted in Nigeria. Both of these strains have been certified as globally eradicated.
But type one still circulates in two countries – Pakistan and Afghanistan.
These versions of polio have been almost to extinction because of the polio vaccine. But the global rollout has spawned new types of strains known as vaccine-derived polioviruses.
These are strains that were initially used in live vaccines but spilled out into the community and evolved to behave more like the wild version.
How many people are infected?
Health chiefs haven’t yet detected an actual case. Instead, they have only spotted the virus in sewage samples.
But they said several closely-related polio viruses were found in sewage samples taken in North and East London between February and May.
This suggests there has ‘likely’ been spread between linked individuals who are now shedding the strain in their faeces.
The UK Health Security Agency is investigating if any community transmission is occurring.
How does it spread?
Similar to Covid, it spreads through coughs and sneezes.
But it can also be spread by poor hygiene if an infected persons’ hands have traces of faeces, which contaminates utensils, food and water.
Places with a high population, poor sanitation and high rates of diarrhoea-type
