Polio virus found in UK sewage samples; risk to public low

LONDON (AP) — Health officials in Britain are warning parents to ensure their children have been vaccinated against polio after the virus that causes the disease was found in London sewage samples in recent months. The U.K. Health Security Agency said Wednesday that it believes the virus was “vaccine-derived,” meaning it came from someone who received the live polio vaccine abroad. That person then would have passed the virus to closely linked individuals in London. The U.K. stopped using the live oral polio vaccine in 2004 and switched to an inactivated version. Polio was officially eradicated in the U.K. in 2003. It can cause paralysis in rare cases and can be life-threatening. Authorities stress that the risk to the public overall is “extremely low.”