Not only COVID-19. Three dangerous pathogens grow stronger. One is especially dangerous for children

The confirmation of the first polio case in the US in nearly a decade and the discovery of the virus in New York City sewage triggered the alarm of the return of a serious childhood disease that was eradicated by vaccines 30 years ago. The presence of the virus in New York suggests a local circulation of the pathogen. The US is also facing cases of monkey pox today and the next wave of the COVID-19 epidemic.

1. The polio virus detected in London and New York City sewage samples caused an alarm. For fear of the disease returning, experts recommend that children under the age of nine be given booster vaccinations
2. Polio, or Heine-Medin disease, is a very contagious viral disease. It can lead to muscle paralysis, damage to the nervous system, permanent disability, and even death
3. A form of the virus has been detected in sewage in the British capital and in New York. This is the result of using an oral polio vaccine containing a weakened live disease virus
4. More current information can be found on the Onet homepage.

Polio in the US and UK: “The risk is real”

The virus detected in New York is not an isolated case. Wastewater studies have shown that the same pathogen is also present in London and Jerusalem.

«There are three diseases. There’s still a lot of COVID-19 here, plus the polio virus that we’ve identified in our wastewater. And we are still dealing with the monkey pox crisis »- New York Mayor Eric Adams told CNN.

The state Department of Health’s statement highlighted “an urgent need to immunize every adult and child in New York City, especially in the metropolitan area.”

“The risk to New Yorkers is real, but the defense is so simple: get vaccinated against polio,” said Dr. Ashwin Vasan, New York’s health commissioner. “With polio circulating in our communities, there is nothing more important than vaccinating children to protect them against this virus,” he argued.

There are no confirmed cases of the disease in the UK to date, but UK health officials suggest that all children in the city, aged one to nine years old, receive a polio booster.

Why does polio, once almost eradicated, return?

Poliomyelitis (polio for short) has caused life-threatening paralysis for thousands of years. Thanks to vaccinations and access to clean water, the disease was approaching global eradication.

However, the eradication of polio, i.e. the complete eradication of an infectious disease worldwide, combined with the fact that the pathogen causing it is not found in human, animal and other environments, has now faced new challenges.

Conflicts, avoidance of vaccines against the disease, and the COVID-19 pandemic have undermined decades of efforts to contain its spread internationally. This can cause a resurgence of this debilitating disease.

Virus particles can survive in soil and water for months, this time is shortened by high temperature and sunlight, and they are destroyed by formaldehyde and chlorine.

There are two main forms of the polio virus. One comes from the vaccine

In addition to the “wild” type, there are also rare cases of vaccine-derived polio.

It was the latter form of the virus that was detected in sewage in the British capital and in New York City, with one case of paralysis reported in New York State. A genetically similar virus has also been found in Jerusalem.

While vaccine-derived polio is almost unheard of in developed countries, it poses a known, though rare, threat elsewhere, causing epidemics each year – for example, 415 cases were reported in Nigeria in 2021.

This is the result of using an oral polio vaccine containing a weakened live virus. After being vaccinated, children shed the virus in their faeces for several weeks. In poorly vaccinated communities, it can then spread and mutate back to the malicious version.

Many countries, including the UK and the United States, no longer use a live vaccine, but some do – in particular to contain an epidemic – allowing the virus to spread globally.

What is polio and how does it spread?

Polio, or Heine-Medin disease, is a highly contagious disease caused by one of three types of the poliovirus that replicate in the human digestive tract.

Infectious virus particles are excreted in the faeces and can infect other people if they are brought into the mouth with unwashed hands or with contaminated food and drink. The virus is also spread, though less frequently, by droplets – when you cough or sneeze.

Polio mainly affects children under the age of five. However, anyone who is not vaccinated can get it. It is a disease that can lead to muscle paralysis, damage to the nervous system, permanent disability, and even death.

In the long term, from 25 to 40 percent. children who recover from paralytic polio suffer from post-polio syndrome (PPS). Post-polio is a post-paralysis syndrome with a number of symptoms: apart from another muscle paralysis, fatigue, cognitive impairment, sleep disturbance and pain sensation are also observed. These symptoms appear approximately 15 to 40 years after the patient recovers.

What are the symptoms and course of polio? It can lead to paralysis or death

Most people with an infection have no symptoms, but some feel like they have the flu. Symptoms of infection include sore throat, headache, stomach ache, muscle soreness, neck stiffness and malaise.

In some infected, the disease is more severe. This happens when polio attacks the nervous system. In this case, the virus can cause paralysis within hours when it enters the body.

In 1 in 200 cases, there is irreversible paralysis, usually of the legs. Among the paralyzed, 5 to 10 percent. people die when their respiratory muscles become immobilized. In some cases, symptoms may take up to 30 days to appear.

There is no cure for polio, but since the vaccine was invented in the 50s, the disease is completely preventable. Its original form has almost disappeared in the world. Afghanistan and Pakistan are currently the only countries where polio remains endemic. But this year, new cases were also detected in Malawi and Mozambique, the first in these countries since the 90s.