Polio

[maeveiscurious]

Sad to read Polio is on the rise. My DM remembers it passing through through the village in the 1950s. One boy died on an iron lung and many children were sick.

Vaccination is dropping off in London, I wonder why?

sad because polio is very close to being wiped out worldwide

Ade Adepitan had polio as a child which is why he uses a wheelchair.

They are going to have to explain this really carefully on the news if its come from a live vaccine and they want people to get vaccinated.

We don’t use live polio vaccines in this country any more.

This was a shock for me as I'd not realised DD needed a booster at 14 which she didn't get because of covid. She's 16 now so I'll encourage her to contact the GP to sort it out.

Thank you for this, I hadn't realised a booster was required and think DD may fall into the same camp.

Around year 9 (it’s different in different areas) your child is due a Diptheria, Tetanus and Polio booster, along with a Meningitis ACWY. That’s 2 injections.

Nah, most people don’t read past the headlines, as can be seen from this thread.

Yes they have it 4 times before they start school, and a 5th at around year 9 in school.

Polio is not on the rise in UK.

There have been no cases.

What has been found is samples containing vaccine-strain polio virus in sewers in London. This would have come from someone recently vaccinated arriving in UK from one of the countries that still uses the oral live vaccine (which sheds via faeces)

It shows how good our monitoring systems are that these sorts of things are still looked for, and that when found, action is taken.

Remember the oral live vaccine was in use here until 2004 (one of my DC was among the very last to have it that way) and the sewers must have been absolutely swimming in it, as it's likely many parents who touched nappies of newly immunised infants would have had a reinforcing dose and passed it on.

Vaccine strain is unlikely to cause severe illness (if it causes illness at all) but the risk is there - it's why you used to be told not to take DC swimming within however many weeks it was of oral immunisation. Risk is mainly to the never immunised, or to those for whom the vaccine did not 'take' properly

But even when, prior to 2004, there was lots in our sewers, actual cases of vaccine-acquired polio were very low (may even have been zero)

Yes they are, it's part of the 6-in-1 jab they get at 8,12 and 16 weeks (I checked yesterday)

Me too. One of my secondary school teachers had lost an arm to childhood polio

Your GP is wrong. It’s never too late to be vaccinated.

Liaise with your practice nurse and you can be brought up to date.

Thanks. I’m with a different surgery now so will try again with a nurse. It’s a bit ambiguous in the NHS website, e.g. the menACWY section says:

If you're starting college or university you should make sure you've already had:

the MenACWY vaccine – which protects against serious infections like meningitis. You can ask a GP for this vaccine until your 25th birthday, if you missed having it at school or before coming to the UK to study

I’m not sure if this means I’m not entitled to it now as I’m well over 25 (although I first asked for my vaccinations to be updated before I reached 25!). I’m also a mature student 🥺

You don’t need a lot of the vaccinations that were given in childhood now that you are an adult.
Contact your practice nurse to see what you do need.
‘If you Google ‘ vaccination of individuals with uncertain status’ you’ll find a graph showing what you need at what ages.

On the news last night. But it's making a drama out of nothing, scaring people. It was found amongst sewerage, no cases, if you vaccinate your baby they'll have had the vaccination.

Tell that to the parents of vaccine injured kids!😡

Polio is a virus I monitor because, as the U.K. and Western Europe have been polio free for decades, it’s one of the vaccinations DD didn’t have as it is completely unnecessary unless she decides to travel to areas where it is extant.

As previously commented on in this thread, it is not wild polio that has been found, it is vaccine shed from people who have been recently vaccinated abroad. Therefore if anyone is to ‘blame’ it’s the vaccinated (tongue firmly in cheek!)

If anyone is feeling nervous the WHO issue regular updates on total polio cases worldwide and by country.

It's only 'completely unnecessary' because most people have the vaccine. People who don't have the vaccine are relying on others to have it to maintain immunity. Selfish.

Yes, unless there is a medical reason, it is very selfish to rely on others for your herd immunity. It also doesn't always work as we have seen recently with measles. When enough people don't vaccinate, the illness spreads and those poor children who cannot have the vaccine suffer needlessly. Nobody likes getting vaccinated but most peoole used to understand what it means to do something for the common good.

Completely agree.

Well hopefully now you will get her vaccinated.

Ar you in the UK @Worldgonecrazy? If so you can’t really avoid polio vaccine as it’s been given as a combined vaccine since about 2004, unless your DD is an adult or declined childhood immunisations.

I think the thing with polio is that lots of people have it and are not symptomatic, once you start seeing people with symptoms it’s already a huge outbreak. Which is why we monitor sewage.

It isn't part of the MMR but usually when you go to have the MMR you have a second jab which includes polio. My ds just had his booster last week and the second jab was a list of things that included polio x

Please don't ring your already busy GP surgery to find out if your children have had the vaccinations, look it up in their red book first. I know there are sometimes very rare circumstances they don't have a red book anymore and would have to ring.