Amid Spreading Polio Virus, Britain Kickstarts Booster Campaign For Kids Under 10 Years: Report

Reuters reported that the polio virus is spreading in London for the first time since the 1980s, so the country has launched a polio vaccine booster campaign for children in London aged below 10.
The U.K. Health Security Agency identified 116 polioviruses from 19 sewage samples this year in London. It first raised the alert on finding the virus in sewage samples in June.
The agency said that the levels of poliovirus found since and the genetic diversity indicated that transmission was taking place in several London boroughs.
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No cases have yet been identified, but GPs will invite children aged 1-9 for booster vaccines to avoid a potential outbreak.
Polio spreads mainly through contamination by fecal matter.
The virus found in London sewage is mainly the vaccine-like virus, which is found when children vaccinated with a particular kind of live vaccine - now only used overseas - shed the virus in their feces.
This harmless virus can transmit among unvaccinated children and mutate into a more dangerous version to cause illness.
Britain is also expanding surveillance for polio to other sites outside London to see if the virus has spread further.

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