Poliovirus found in sewer Utrecht Science Park Bilthoven

The find was made in a sample taken from the site’s sewage system on October 12. The Health and Youth Care Inspectorate (IGJ) is conducting research to find out where the virus comes from. The IGJ has been designated in the Netherlands as the authority (National Authority for Containment, NAC) to supervise working with the polio virus.

There are four organizations at the Utrecht Science Park in Bilthoven that are allowed to work with the polio virus. Every three weeks, samples are taken from the sewer to check that no active polio virus has entered. Although not all organizations discharge into the well where the virus has now been found, the IGJ investigation initially focuses on all four organizations.

Previous finds

Last year and in February and April of this year, polio virus was also found in the same sewer. In February and April, a weakened strain of the virus was used to make the oral polio vaccine. From all the investigations that were done at that time, the conclusion was that the exact cause could no longer be traced.

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