New South Wales to test sewage for polio

New South Wales will be joining other states in testing sewage for polio, as cases of the largely eradicated disease emerge overseas.

Last month, authorities confirmed that polio is spreading in London for the first time since the 1980s, and an unvaccinated person in New York was officially diagnosed with polio, the first case in nine years.

New York's governor has declared a state of emergency after wastewater testing revealed that polioviruses have been quietly circulating in parts of the state for some time.

Professor Michael Toole, Associate Principal Research Fellow at the Burnet Institute, told ABC News Daily that another outbreak in Australia is a moderate, yet plausible risk.

He said New South Wales has now assembled an expert panel to look at how it can adapt COVID wastewater surveillance to include polio.

NSW Health hopes to begin sewage testing as soon as possible because there is no indication of polio infection.

Professor Toole said that wastewater testing in Victoria has been ongoing for some time, beginning after the 2013 outbreak in Israel, as part of a national surveillance program.

Polio can cause permanent disability and death in a person's brain and spinal cord.

It's mainly transmitted when someone comes into contact with faecal matter of an infected person, especially among children who might contract it by putting contaminated objects such as toys into their mouths.

Australia had two major polio epidemics in the 1930s and 1950s before American scientist Dr Jonas Salk developed the first vaccine in 1952.

There was a dramatic reduction in cases all over the world.

It is estimated that 2 4 million Australians have been infected with the disease and 40,000 people have developed polio.

Professor Toole said that vaccination rates were pretty high, 90 - 95 per cent, but there are pockets of low coverage. Despite high immunisation, he said Australians shouldn't be complacent about the risk because of the strain that has been detected in New York, particularly since the patient has been genetically linked to sewage samples taken in both London and Israel.

He said that our borders are open.

He says Australian-Jewish communities may be at higher risk of contracting the disease because they may be more likely to travel to areas where the virus has been detected.

She is afraid that more analytical cases will emerge.

That is our fear, said Dr Schnabel Ruppert, who is the health commissioner of Rockland County.

Prior to this, none of us in the health department had seen a case. Polio is asymptomatic in 75 per cent of cases, and a little under 25 per cent have mild flu-like symptoms.

One in every 200 people who contract polio develop irreversible paralysis.

Dr Schnabel Ruppert said that our patient with paralysis is the tip of the iceberg.

The intent is not to panic, but to inform the public so that they know what they can do to protect themselves. The best way to prevent this is to be vaccinated. There is no treatment if you don't have a doctor's opinion.