Urgent travel warnings have been issued for more than 30 countries over the increased circulation of polio.
The CDC has issued level 2 travel advisories for 32 nations, including the UK and Spain, urging Americans traveling to those nations to ‘practice enhanced precautions.’
The advisory is in response to the circulation of polio, a highly infectious virus that spreads through airborne droplets and feces and attacks the nervous system.
While the virus lurks silently for most people, severe cases can lead to muscle weakness and stiffness, spasms, trouble swallowing and full-body paralysis.Â
Polio can also paralyze the lungs and other muscles responsible for breathing, leading to death.
It was wiped out of the US in 1979, just over two decades after the advent of the polio vaccine, and only sporadic cases have popped up on American soil since.
According to the CDC, polio has been detected in the last 12 months in the UK, Spain, Poland, Germany and Finland, along with multiple Middle Eastern and African countries.Â
The agency did not specify a number of cases or the source of the spread. It’s possible it was found in wastewater from asymptomatic infected individuals who may have traveled from endemic nations.
The CDC has issued a level 2 travel advisory for several countries due to polio. The warning includes multiple European nations, such as Spain (file photo)
Vaccines are routinely offered in the European countries named in the advisory, but it is less common in many African nations.Â
The vaccine, which contains an inactivated version of poliovirus, is 99 to 100 percent effective. It is administered in the US as a four-dose series for children at two months, four months, six to 18 months and four to six years. The complete series protects individuals for life.Â
According to the CDC, the 1988 launch of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) has decreased worldwide polio cases by 99 percent, and the shots have prevented 20 million cases of paralysis in children.Â
The agency said vaccines have stopped the spread of wild poliovirus in all but two countries: Afghanistan and Pakistan, both of which were named in the advisory. Experts believe polio remains endemic in these countries due to military conflict, mistrust of Western medicine and population mobility.
As part of the advisory, the CDC urged Americans traveling to any of the 32 identified countries to stay up to date on polio vaccines and consider getting one lifetime booster, along with completing the full vaccine series.
Polio, or poliomyelitis, is a highly infectious nervous system disease spread by the poliovirus, which targets nerve cells in the spinal cord and brain stem.
Naturally occurring poliovirus, or wild-type poliovirus, has been eradicated from the US and most developed countries, while another version derived from vaccines is more common but still rare.
People carrying poliovirus can spread it through droplets from sneezing or coughing and feces.
Polio is a nervous system disease that was once the most feared in the world before vaccines were introduced in the 1950s. Above is a polio patient in 1947
While about nine in ten people with polio do not develop symptoms, around five percent report mild flu-like symptoms such as fever, headache, muscle aches, sore throat, nausea and vomiting. This is called ‘abortive polio.’
Around one percent of patients develop nonparalytic polio, which causes more severe flu-like symptoms, neck and spine stiffness, decreased reflexes and muscle weakness.
Nonparalytic polio can progress to paralytic polio, the most serious form of the disease. It leads to intense pain, extreme sensitivity to touch, tingling sensations, muscle spasms or twitching and paralysis.
Paralytic polio can affect any limb or organ, but if it spreads to the lungs, it could lead to deadly breathing issues.
The CDC said in its advisory: ‘Polio can be fatal if the muscles used for breathing are paralyzed or if there is an infection of the brain.’
Pictured above is a child in Karachi, Pakistan receiving an oral polio vaccine in 2022. Pakistan and Afghanistan have not yet eliminated polio
The last confirmed case of polio in the US was in 2022 in an unvaccinated adult from Rockland County, New York, just outside of New York City.
The unidentified individual reported a fever, stiff neck, constipation and back and abdominal pain.
Further testing found at least 21 positive samples of the virus in wastewater samples in several surrounding counties, though there were no further confirmed cases.
The latest CDC data shows 92.5 percent of children in the US have had at least three doses of the polio vaccine.
Additional doses may be given to adults traveling to high-risk countries.
The CDC recommends that children and adult travelers to an at-risk region get a polio vaccine booster and wash their hands frequently to prevent polio from spreading.
