U.K. Detects Additional Poliovirus

The European CDC today reported that the United Kingdom confirmed the notification of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) isolated from environmental samples. 

As of December 13, 2024, the ECDC stated that cVDPV2 was isolated from environmental samples collected in Leeds, London, and East Worthing over the past few months. However, no human cases of polio have been reported in the U.K. in 2024.

Regarding polio preventive vaccines, a recent report from the September Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization meeting recommended the concomitant use of IPV and type 2 novel oral polio (nOPV2) vaccines in initial outbreak response vaccination campaigns.

Since 2000, the IPV vaccine has been offered in the United States.

And over the past few years, about 1.1 billion nOPV2 vaccine doses have been administered in Africa.

Since August 2024, the U.S. CDC has issued a Level 2—Practice Enhanced Precautions, Travel Health Advisory, listing 37 countries reporting poliovirus detections this year. The CDC writes that adults who previously completed the full, routine polio vaccine series may receive a single, lifetime booster dose of polio vaccine before traveling to any destination listed.

The U.K. is not included in the CDC's current list.