Is a new pandemic of polio just around the corner?

Polio was thought to have disappeared following the development and widespread use of vaccines after 1956. Afghanistan and Pakistan remained the only countries where polio remained endemic.

But now we seem to be facing the re-emergence of polio throughout the developed world. Over the last few months cases of polio have been reported around our world and the virus has recently been discovered in wastewater in 8 boroughs of London as well as in parts of New York as well as a recent outbreak in Israel.

In Britain this is the first time in 40 years that polio has been officially reported and the last case of polio in the USA had occurred in 2013. Like Australia, the USA has a long history of polio outbreaks and between 1920 and 1955 tens of thousands of people were crippled by the disease each year. 

Today in Rockland and Orange Counties in New York, polio vaccination rates remain below 61 percent.  Rockland County is home to a large Hasidic Jewish community which has often been sensitive to vaccination.

In Britain the Government has recently announced that a polio booster shot will be made available for children aged from 1 to 9 years in London.

Two vaccines have been available for decades. One is inactive and given by injection while the other is live but weakened and taken orally. The inactive one was developed in the 1950s and remains a safe and effective way of killing the virus yet it seems while it provides protection the virus can still spread to other people. The oral vaccine developed in the 1960s possesses the ability to prevent transmission.

Over the last few decades we believed that like smallpox we had won the battle against polio but at the same time tended to overlook the fact that a late or post-polio syndrome appeared in a number of countries some years ago.

So, is polio only a plane or boat trip away from Australia? How much at risk do we remain? How many people in Australia have been vaccinated and how many would pursue vaccination if the disease arrived? Given that large numbers of Australians seem somewhat reluctant to vaccinate their children against an array of childhood infections are we now as vulnerable as we were 50 years ago?

If a polio epidemic broke out it could have a devastating effect upon young Australians and add yet another burden on our Government’s responsibility to protect us.