Polio Disease Found in London, New York and Jerusalem. Is It Dangerous?

Polio is a deadly disease that used to paralyze thousands of children every year. The disease is now spreading through London, New York and Jerusalem for the first time in decades.

In the first half of the 20th century, children under five years old were most at risk. At that time, polio caused fever and vomiting. Around 1 in 200 kids with polio got paralysis and some died.

There is still no cure for polio. However, the disease is preventable with a vaccine that was first introduced in the 1950s. After that, the disease almost disappeared.

The polio virus has two main forms. There is a “wild-type” and a “vaccine-derived” type.

Recently, the vaccine-derived virus was found in London and New York. A very similar virus was found in Jerusalem, Israel. 

The vaccine-derived virus comes from using a polio vaccine that contains the real, but weakened virus. After kids take the vaccine, the virus leaves the body in their feces. In some communities, where many people didn’t take a polio vaccine, that is dangerous.

Some countries do not use the vaccine with the weakened virus anymore. But, people from countries that do use that vaccine can spread the virus when they travel.

Experts say that less people took the polio vaccine in the last couple of years because of the COVID-19 situation. For that reason, there are new efforts to promote the polio vaccine.