Europe EU authority: Polioviruses detected in five European countries

SDA

24.1.2025 - 02:13

According to the RKI, unvaccinated or incompletely vaccinated people can become infected with polioviruses derived from the oral vaccine and, in rare cases, contract polio.(archive image)
According to the RKI, unvaccinated or incompletely vaccinated people can become infected with polioviruses derived from the oral vaccine and, in rare cases, contract polio.(archive image)
Keystone

As in various parts of Germany, polioviruses have been detected in four other European countries. According to researchers, they were also detected in wastewater samples in Spain, Poland, the UK and Finland between September and December 2024.

Keystone-SDA

This is according to an article in the journal "Eurosurveillance" published by the EU health authority ECDC.

As the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) had already announced last year, the findings in Germany occurred in all seven regularly tested cities, namely Munich, Bonn, Cologne, Hamburg, Dresden, Düsseldorf and Mainz.

In Finland and Spain, on the other hand, only one in five and two sampling points respectively were affected. In Poland, two out of eight and in the UK four out of twelve were affected. In some places, there were repeated findings in various measurements.

"A wake-up call"

All strains of the pathogens were genetically linked, wrote the scientists involved from institutes and authorities in the countries in question as well as the European office of the World Health Organization (WHO). Based on the findings, a broader geographical spread beyond the affected measuring points must be considered, wrote the researchers, who spoke of "a wake-up call".

The pathogens found are not the wild type of poliovirus, but viruses that can be traced back to the oral polio vaccination with attenuated but live polio pathogens. This oral vaccine is no longer used in Germany and the other affected countries. The scientists conclude from this that the viruses were most likely introduced from other countries where these vaccinations are used. This is particularly the case in Africa and Asia.

Worrying vaccination coverage figures

Polio is a contagious infectious disease that can cause permanent paralysis or even death. It is also known as polio because the pathogen was once so common that contact with it usually occurred in childhood. The virus is often spread via contaminated water. There is currently no treatment for it. The disease has been eradicated through vaccination campaigns in most countries around the world.

However, the Standing Committee on Vaccination (Stiko) and the RKI recently drew attention to the fact that only 21 percent of one-year-olds in Germany have been fully vaccinated against polio - despite the fact that basic immunization should be completed by the age of twelve months. Although missed vaccinations are often caught up on, according to the experts, only 77 percent of children are fully immunized by the age of two.

According to the RKI, unvaccinated or incompletely vaccinated people can become infected with polioviruses derived from the oral vaccine and, in rare cases, contract polio.