[The Epoch Times, June 30, 2022](The Epoch Times British Reporter Station reported) Recently, a sampling test at a sewage treatment center in London has found the polio virus several times in a row. Concerned that the severe infectious disease is spreading, the British medical department has begun an urgent search for the source of the virus and is calling for unvaccinated children to be vaccinated.
The UK Health Care Agency (UKHSA) has declared this a national event, fearing outbreaks and mutating of the virus.
The location where the polio virus was found was the Beckton wastewater treatment plant in London. The treatment plant treats domestic wastewater for 4 million people in north and east London. The time is from February to May this year.
The Health Care Authority said it was possible that people from Afghanistan, Pakistan or Nigeria who had been vaccinated in their own country with a live vaccine and then shed the virus during a bowel movement in the UK could then spread the virus to their relatives and friends.
The department hopes only one family will be affected so the outbreak can be contained.
The last time a case of polio was detected in the UK was in 1984, and polio was declared eradicated in 2003. But in recent months, samples of sewage from the Beckton Wastewater Treatment Plant have been tested repeatedly for the virus.
Viruses and symptoms
Polio, also known as polio, is a severe infectious disease caused by a virus that mainly affects children under the age of five. It can attack the nervous system and even cause general paralysis within a few hours, and there is no cure.
It’s unclear how far the virus has spread, and because polio has been eradicated since 2003, medical experts worry that doctors no longer understand the symptoms of contracting the virus, which is similar to other common infections For example, COVID is similar, it is easier to confuse, so remind doctors around the symptoms of the virus.
Symptoms of poliovirus include high fever, very tiredness, headache, vomiting, stiff neck and muscle aches.
Most infected people are asymptomatic, but 5% experience mild symptoms such as fever, muscle weakness, headache, nausea and vomiting.
2% will experience severe symptoms such as very muscle pain, stiff neck and back, and even less than 1% of infected people will develop irreversible severe paralysis, and 10% of the severely ill patients may die.
The most common mode of transmission of the polio virus is fecal-oral transmission, where people infected with the virus do not wash their hands after going to the toilet, thereby passing the virus on to others.
Similar to COVID, in some cases it can also be spread through particles exhaled when an infected person coughs or sneezes, as well as through food, water and contaminated items.
There are three naturally occurring polioviruses: type 1, type 2 and type 3.
Type II was eradicated in 1999. Type 3 has not been seen for nearly a decade, and the last known case was in Nigeria in November 2012. Both strains are therefore considered globally eradicated.
Type 1 strains are still present in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
However, vaccine-derived viruses have emerged due to the use of live oral vaccines.
Live vaccines trigger variants
Some countries where polio has not been eradicated offer their citizens live oral vaccines, which are live vaccines in which the virus has been attenuated. The UK has not used the vaccine since 2004.
The vaccine immunizes the gastrointestinal tract, and the vaccine virus is excreted in the feces after a few weeks.
However, for people with a low vaccination ratio, this live virus can spread in the population, and even mutate into a virus-derived poliovirus, which is close to the natural poliovirus, which may lead to unvaccinated people. People are paralyzed. Such cases have occurred internationally before.
London’s discovery of the type 2 vaccine-derived poliovirus (Vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2). There are nearly 1,000 such cases worldwide in 2020.
Starting in 2019, all countries in the world have provided inactivated vaccines that do not cause infection or disease, but some countries where polio cases still occur will provide live oral vaccines when cases occur.
Oral live vaccines, while effective against native polioviruses, may spread in areas with low vaccination rates and cause the virus to rapidly mutate, becoming more contagious and closer to the native virus.
Some polioviruses are found in wastewater samples in the UK every year, but they were all one-offs before, and this time in London, it was found several times in succession, and the virus found in April was genetically related to the virus found in February relationship, that is, from an oral live virus to a vaccine-derived virus.
However, epidemiologists from the Health Protection Agency said: “Vaccine-derived polioviruses are rare and the risk to the public in general is very low. Vaccine-derived polioviruses have the potential to spread, especially in low-vaccination populations. In very rare cases, it can cause paralysis in people who have not been fully vaccinated. So, if you or your child is not vaccinated, contact your GP to get vaccinated, and if unsure, check the little red-covered book. “
low vaccination rates
Official statistics show that less than half of children in parts of England are vaccinated against polio, and in some parts of London the rate is even lower. The NHS is contacting parents in London, urging them to bring their children to be vaccinated.
Children usually get the vaccine, but NHS figures show that last year eight districts in England had 50 per cent or less of the polio vaccine among ninth-year-olds (ages 13 to 14).
In Hillingdon and Brent in London, only a third of 13- to 14-year-olds received three doses of the vaccine, the lowest in the country.
In Nottingham and Middlesbrough, 50% and 46% of adolescents respectively received three doses of the vaccine. In Torbay, Leicester, Sandwell, Plymouth, Luton and Devon it was all below 60 per cent.
However, some areas may not offer the vaccine until teenagers reach grade 10, so the numbers may be a bit underestimated.
All children in England can get three doses of the vaccine, the first when they are babies, the second at three and the last at 14.
NHS figures show that 95% of children in the UK have had their first dose of the vaccine by the age of two. But London fared worse, with nearly 90 per cent of children receiving their first dose of the vaccine and only 71 per cent getting their second dose by the age of five.
Children are less vaccinated overall
Overall vaccination of children in England has been declining in recent years. It’s not just the polio vaccine, it’s the vaccine that all 13 children should get.
As a result, some infectious diseases that were common in the past have resurfaced. Measles broke out in 2019. Polio emerged this year.
Why are people not getting vaccinated anymore?
Many experts believe this is because people have forgotten how terrifying the eradication of infectious diseases is. Some parents are very confident that those diseases are no longer a threat to their children.
The last outbreak of polio in the UK was in the 1970s, meaning many parents had not experienced the virus themselves.
Another reason is that the outbreak, which has lasted for more than two years, especially during school closures, has caused many children to miss out on vaccinations at school, where many students are vaccinated.
And the problem is global, with figures from the World Health Organization showing that 23 million children did not receive essential vaccines in 2020, 3.7 million more than in 2019. ◇
Responsible editor: Chen Bin
