Global Polio Travel Alert Reissued

Recent high-profile detections of poliovirus transmission in the U.K., New York, and Israel are, of course, concerning, and such transmission events must be appropriately managed, wrote Aidan O'Leary, Director of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI).

'In reality, now, we have perhaps the best opportunity to finish the job of eradicating polio, even with the detection of poliovirus in places where polio was considered a thing of the past.'

'We have a unique window of opportunity (polio is a vaccine-preventable disease), but we must use it because it will not remain open forever,' commented O'Leary on November 7, 2022.

To more effectively educate international travelers, the U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reissued its Alert - Level 2, Practice Enhanced Precautions regarding various polio outbreaks.

As of November 18, 2022, the CDC listed the international destinations with circulating poliovirus.

Separately, the GPEI weekly update on November 16, 2022, confirmed that the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Yemen reported new polio cases involving vaccine-derived strains.

Before traveling to any destination listed, the CDC recommends that adults who previously completed the full, routine polio vaccine series receive a single, lifetime booster dose of a polio vaccine.

And children should be up to date on their routine polio vaccines. The CDC recommends that children get four doses of the polio vaccine.

Inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) is the only polio vaccine that has been given in the United States since 2000.

IPV is given by a shot in the leg or arm, depending on the patient's age.

The oral polio vaccine is used in other countries.

Additional polio vaccine information is posted at this link.

On November 1, 2022, the World Health Organization (WHO) reaffirmed that the risk of the international spread of poliovirus remains a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.

Poliomyelitis (polio) is a highly infectious viral disease that primarily affects children under five years of age.

The virus is transmitted by person-to-person spread mainly through the fecal-oral route or, less frequently, by a common vehicle (e.g., contaminated water or food).

And it multiplies in the intestine, from where it can invade the nervous system and cause paralysis, wrote the WHO.

Other polio outbreak news is published by Vax-Before-Travel.

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