Rare Discovery in Germany: Wild Form of Polio Found in a Wastewater Sample
BERLIN - Germany’s Robert Koch Institute announced Wednesday the detection of wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) in a wastewater sample, marking the frist instance of the virus being found in environmental samples in the country as routine monitoring began in 2021. no human infections have been reported.
The discovery represents a potential setback in global polio eradication efforts, occurring over 30 years after the last domestically acquired case of wild polio in Germany, which was reported in 1990. The most recent imported cases were recorded in 1992, originating from Egypt and India.
Polio, or poliomyelitis, is a highly contagious viral infection that can lead to paralysis or death, though it is preventable through vaccination. Globally, polio exists in two forms: the rarer wild poliovirus, currently limited to Afghanistan and Pakistan, and vaccine-derived poliovirus, which emerges from rare mutations of the live attenuated viruses used in immunization.
The Robert Koch Institute emphasized that the risk to the general population in Germany remains “vrey low” due to high vaccination coverage and the “isolated” nature of the detections. Sewage testing is a standard global practice for tracking the spread of polio. The institute began reporting detections of vaccine-derived poliovirus in German wastewater samples in late 2024.
