Authorities found evidence of a vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 strain, similar to recent wastewater detections in other countries in Africa, Europe and Papua New Guinea.<\/p>\n
The Australian Centre for Disease Control (CDC) warned the finding was significant, but stressed there was no evidence of the disease spreading in Australia.<\/p>\n
According to the CDC, poliovirus is a highly contagious viral disease that can lead to disability and death, and although the risk of contracting the disease is low, vaccination is important.<\/p>\n
People infected with poliovirus can have no or mild symptoms, but in a small number of cases the disease can cause paralysis, severe muscle pain, weakness and involuntary movements.<\/p>\n
CDC Director-General Zoe Wainer said the discovery was an environmental detection, not a clinical case.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo cases of polio have been identified, and there is no evidence of local transmission,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAustralia remains polio-free, but this is a timely reminder to check that you and your children are up to date with routine vaccinations.<\/p>\n
\u201cVaccination is the best protection against polio. If you are unsure whether you or your child needs a polio vaccine or booster, please speak with your GP or immunisation provider.\u201d<\/p>\n
Western Australia\u2019s chief health officer Clare Huppatz said the single wastewater polio detection event was of low risk to the population.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe potential for this strain to circulate in a highly vaccinated population is very low, and the poliovirus vaccination coverage in WA children is 92%,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Huppatz said the finding was most likely from someone who travelled overseas and was shedding the virus strain.<\/p>\n
\u201cFortunately, Australia has an excellent vaccination programme against poliovirus, which will protect the community against this strain,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis does however serve as a timely reminder that poliovirus continues to circulate in other countries, and the importance of making sure you and your family are fully vaccinated.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sign up to Herald Premium Editor\u2019s Picks<\/a>, delivered straight to your inbox every Friday. Editor-in-Chief Murray Kirkness picks the week\u2019s best features, interviews and investigations. Sign up for Herald Premium here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Authorities found evidence of a vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 strain, similar to recent wastewater detections in other countries…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":406307,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[1135,1558,154288,158082,77,7191,1888,134,78,111,139,69,5270,209251,35836,1515,11408,2044,30700,78597,3457],"class_list":["post-406306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-australian","tag-been","tag-catchment","tag-debilitating","tag-detected","tag-disease","tag-first","tag-health","tag-in","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-one","tag-poliovirus","tag-strain","tag-surge","tag-testing","tag-time","tag-triggering","tag-wastewater","tag-western"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=406306"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406306\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/406307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=406306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=406306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=406306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}