\n Published on
\n 15\/11\/2025 – 8:00 GMT+1\n <\/p>\n
Health authorities in Germany have detected traces of the poliovirus in Hamburg\u2019s sewage, prompting calls for stronger disease-tracking and vaccination efforts.<\/p>\n
Germany has not reported any actual cases of poliomyelitis, or polio, a highly contagious disease that primarily affects young children and can invade the nervous system, sometimes causing paralysis.<\/p>\n
The poliovirus found in Germany\u2019s wastewater is genetically similar to a strain last identified in August in Afghanistan, one of only two countries where polio remains endemic.<\/p>\n
The detection in Germany is \u201cunusual, but not unexpected,\u201d according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).<\/p>\n
Germany\u2019s last known local polio case occurred in 1990, and Europe was declared polio-free in 2002. Still, officials warn that cases can still be imported into Europe and potentially spread among unvaccinated people.<\/p>\n
The recent detection \u201cunderscores the reality that until polio is eradicated everywhere, all countries remain at risk of importation of the virus and potential re-infection,\u201d according to the World Health Organization (WHO).<\/p>\n
Poliovirus can be found in sewage when people shed the virus in their stool. That doesn\u2019t necessarily mean they are sick \u2013 it can also be because they were immunised with the oral polio vaccine, which contains a weakened but live virus.<\/p>\n