Britain Declares National Incident After Poliovirus Found in London

There is evidence of the local spread of the disease in London.

The risk to the public is low because no cases of the disease have been found so far. Health authorities want people who are not fully immunized against the disease to get the vaccine.

The majority of the U.K. population will be protected from vaccine-preventable diseases in childhood, but some people may still be at risk.

In 1984 the country was declared free of the disease. Up to 8000 cases of paralysis were reported annually in Britain before the introduction of the vaccine.

The World Health Organization's vaccine-preventable diseases and Dr. Shahin Huseynov, technical officer for the World Health Organization's vaccine-preventable diseases, said that between February and May, several samples of London's sewage were found to be positive for the vaccine-

An individual who traveled to the country around the New Year is most likely the origin of the samples. Unvaccinated children are likely to be the origin of the last four samples.

Ensuring that all children have access to vaccines is still important even in well developed countries.

British officials are trying to find the source of the disease. Almost half of the city is covered by the wastewater treatment plant that identifies the samples.

A person who doesn't wash their hands properly is most likely to spread the disease. The virus can be found in the guts of people who have it. Up to 1 percent of patients can be paralyzed by the virus.

According to Dr. David Heymann, an infectious disease expert at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, only a small number of children are paralyzed by the disease.

In Britain, the only way to get rid of the disease is with an injection of a vaccine. Some countries of the world use an oral vaccine that contains a weakened version of the disease. Immunized people can excrete the virus in their feces, which can end up in the sewage system.

Health officials think that happened in this case. The type of oral vaccine that was used to contain the outbreak came from the viruses collected.

He said that the vaccine has only been used in Afghanistan, Pakistan and some countries in the Middle East and Africa.

Afghanistan and Pakistan are the only two countries in the world that still have wild polioviruses. In communities with low vaccine coverage, vaccine-derivedpolio still causes small outbreaks.

Some of the most impoverished parts of the world are still affected by Polo. Nicholas Grassly is a vaccine epidemiologist at Imperial College London.

Community transmission is most likely among young children. It's not likely that a single person has shed the virus for a long time.

The biggest issue is whether it has been circulating in the U.K. or if it is an immune deficient person.

They need to find that person who is immune deficient.