Polio is a forgotten disease for the vast majority of people in Europe since 2002, thanks to successful vaccination programs, extensive surveillance and outbreaks.

However, from 2015 to 2022 the virus is detected in at least one European country each year, while in 2024 a type 2 polio was detected in a vaccine in the sewage systems of 14 cities in five countries (Spain; Poland, Germany, United Kingdom and Finland).

“An abnormally high number of polio virus detections in several European countries in recent months has underlined the importance of maintaining Europe free from polio,” the European Center for Prevention and Disease Control (ECDC) said in their article. Wagner, and the Regional Director of the World Health Organization for Europe, Hans Klugga.

How did the virus reappear

These viruses are associated with a pedigree line first identified in Nigeria in 2020 and released in another 21 countries of Africacausing epidemics in 15 of them.

The analysis of genetic sequence shows that before it was found in Europe, the virus was circulated for a year elsewhere. There is no evidence, however, that there has been wide circulation of the virus in Europe because of these imports.

However, they can lead to rise if people who have not been vaccinated are exposed to the virus, as recently in Tajikistan, Ukraine, Israel and the United Kingdom.

In an article published in the magazine “Eurosurveillance”, it is noted that “each country must remain vigilant to detect the presence of polio virus through surveillance systems, ready to act quickly if any circulation of the virus is detected and committed to maintain. High vaccine coverage in each community annually until the global elimination of polio. “

The ECDC estimates that 2.4 million children in the European Union and the European Economic Area may not have received the vaccination cycle required to protect against the virus during the period 2012-2021, while an additional 600,000 children may have lost vaccination them in the period 2022-2023.