Return of polio in the United States: should France be worried?


Yasmina Kattou
modified to

10:03 a.m., August 16, 2022

The case of poliomyelitis detected in New York in the United States worries the health authorities. Especially since traces identified in the waste water suggest that there is not only one patient in the city. In London, too, the virus has been detected in the waters. Faced with this resurgence, could France experience new contaminations?

The return of poliomyelitis in the United Kingdom and the United States worries the health authorities. The polio virus has been detected in sewage in New York. In mid-July, a case of polio had been recorded in the county about ten kilometers north of Manhattan. It was the first case of polio in the country for nearly a decade. The 20-year-old is now suffering from leg paralysis. In London, too, the virus has been detected in the waters.

France could experience contamination

The authorities therefore invited all children between the ages of one and nine to receive a polio booster. Faced with the resurgence of this virus in developed countries, could France experience new contaminations? The answer is yes since in 2019, 4% of infants did not receive the polio booster. Jean-Paul Stahl, professor emeritus of infectiology at the University of Grenoble, urges parents to vaccinate their children.

Polio, an “extremely serious” disease

“It is very clear that if we are infected with the polio virus, it is because we are not vaccinated, or else we are deeply immunocompromised and vaccinations are no longer effective”, explains- he at the microphone of Europe 1. “And so the message is: it is absolutely necessary to have a good vaccination against polio which is an extremely serious disease. It is really a vaccination that we can do at n any time of life. It is a vaccine that is very effective.”

In France, 4% of children did not receive their booster in 2019. “We may see small epidemics in very specific populations that have not been vaccinated. We will never have a large epidemic because of the global vaccination coverage, but cases in unvaccinated people. The risk exists”, concludes Jean-Paul Stahl.



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