Recent poliovirus detections in several European countries highlight the ongoing risk of the disease and the need for vigilance. While Europe has been polio-free since 2002, the virus continues to be imported from other regions, with vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 detected in wastewater systems of several European countries in 2024. The ECDC and WHO emphasize the importance of maintaining high vaccination coverage, addressing disparities in immunization levels, and strengthening surveillance and outbreak response systems to prevent and curb the spread of polioviruses.
European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control Jan 30 2025 An unusually high amount of poliovirus detections in several European countries in recent months has underscored the importance of keeping Europe polio-free, according to an editorial by European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control Director Pamela Rendi Wagner and World Health Organization Regional Director for Europe Hans Kluge, which was published on Eurosurveillance.
Ongoing risk highlighted by recent detections While polio has been a threat to the health and wellbeing of children for centuries, it is a mostly forgotten disease for the vast majority of people in Europe. Thanks to successful vaccination programmes, extensive surveillance and outbreak response, Europe has been polio-free since 2002.
These viruses are linked to a lineage that was first detected in Nigeria in 2020, and which has travelled to other 21 countries in Africa, causing outbreaks in 15 of them. Genetic sequencing analysis indicates that before it had been detected in Europe, the virus had been circulating for a year elsewhere.
Public health action urgently needed Therefore, Rendi-Wagner and Kluge emphasise the need to maintain high national vaccination coverage across all populations. While the five countries that detected polio virus in 2024 have maintained high immunization levels, they have also reported disparities in some communities, which remain vulnerable to infection as a result. ECDC estimates that 2.
POLIO HEALTHCARE SURVEILLANCE VACCINATION OUTBREAK
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