Warning polio outbreak may now have spread in UK as experts fear it is passing undetected

POLIO is feared to have now spread across the UK undetected, experts have warned.

And a failure to monitor sewage systems will leave communities at risk of the virus spreading further, they added.

Polio has been found in sewage treatment works in London and there is some evidence of transmission in a small number of people, the UK Health and Security Agency announced on Wednesday.

But the health body is not planning to test any further sewage works, the reported.

Bristol University's Prof Adam Finn warned: “At the moment all they’ve got is these sewage samples.

"They really don’t know where it is exactly, because it’s in a central place in North London that drains a big vast area of London.

“And so they’re going to have to do more localised sampling to see if they can figure out if this is just one household or is it a whole community, how widespread is it? 

“And they’ve not been doing sewage surveillance anywhere here, apart from London or Glasgow.

"So there’s also no real awareness of whether there might be polio viruses somewhere else around the country.”

The World Health Organisation's Global Commission for Certification of Polio Eradication added: "Without extensive national environmental poliovirus surveillance, it is not possible to know if this problem is more widespread."

Many sites nationally monitored sewage to track Covid in wastewa6er but is has not been expanded to include Polio, which is said to be spreading for the first time since 1984.

Dr Philip Minor, retired freelance consultant, formerly of the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control, said: “Sewage surveillance is cheap.

"It does not depend on finding cases or mass surveillance.

“Using modern sequencing technology, it is possible to look for any virus that may be shed in the faeces in sufficient amounts.

"In my opinion there should be major ongoing investment in sewage surveillance in preparing for pandemics.”

Yesterday Brits were urged to check their vaccine records to check they have been jabbed against Polio.

It is part of the NHS routine childhood vaccination schedule.

But as many try and access their records, they have been left in confusion, with GPs even struggling to understand if patients are up to date with immunisations.

It's given as a jab when a child is 8, 12 and 16 weeks old. And two further shots are administered at 3 years and 4 months old, and at 14 years old.

However, one in ten kids in London aged five are not fully vaccinated against the bug.

Parents were told to check their children's medical records.

Health bosses have said Brits should check their children's jabs are up to date after picking up signs of the virus being passed between individuals.