Extra Polio Shot Offered to London Children as Concern Grows
UK health authorities will offer children under 10 living in London an additional dose of polio vaccine amid rising concern about a comeback of the disease.
While nobody has tested positive for infection with the type of polio virus that can cause paralysis, authorities have nonetheless found it in several London sewage samples recently. This suggests “there is some level of virus transmission” in parts of London that “has gone beyond a close network of a few individuals,” the UK Health Security Agency said in a statement.
The UK’s vaccine expert advisory committee recommended offering the extra polio booster to kids after considering London’s polio vaccination coverage, which is lagging behind World Health Organization targets.
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Of the 116 polio viruses isolated from London sewage samples in recent months, the vast majority are relatively harmless versions classified as “vaccine-like” virus. People can spread this version through their feces after receiving a live-attenuated oral version of polio vaccine that’s no longer offered in the UK.
If this version of the virus undergoes enough mutations, however, it sometimes becomes a more dangerous strain that can cause paralysis on rare occasions. On several occasions in London since February, this more dangerous strain, known as &...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tim Loh and Dong Lyu/Bloomberg Tags: Uncategorized healthscienceclimate Vaccines wire Source Type: news
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