(Lauren Pelley/ CBC News) — Polio, a potentially disabling virus that’s long been forgotten in many parts of the world, is now circulating in parts of the U.S. and U.K., on the heels of an outbreak in Israel — prompting health officials to launch vaccination campaigns to ensure the public is protected.
Even in Canada, a country free of polio for the last two decades, medical experts say it’s a wake-up call that the virus still poses a threat to anyone who remains unvaccinated, given polio’s ability to spread through global travel networks and wastewater systems.
According to the Public Health Agency of Canada, efforts are underway to start testing wastewater from a number of cities “as soon as possible,” CBC News learned recently. (…)