In 2024, health organizations issued travel alerts due to the detection of poliovirus in several regions. Despite polio being preventable through vaccines, traces of the virus were still found in wastewater and environmental samples in 2025.
The Global Polio Eradication Initiative confirmed that various countries are reporting cases of wild polio, circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2, and circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 1.
On January 14, 2025, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated its Level 2 Travel Health Advisory, urging enhanced precautions for travelers to 39 countries where poliovirus has been detected.
The United Kingdom was not included in the CDC’s advisory, even though poliovirus samples were found at several sewage treatment plants in late 2024, including East Worthing, Leeds Knostrop, and London Beckton.
In December 2024, the World Health Organization also emphasized that the spread of poliovirus remains a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.
To help prevent the spread of polio, the CDC recommends that adults who have already completed the standard polio vaccination series should receive a one-time booster dose before traveling to any of the affected destinations.
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