Health officials have urged people to ensure their polio vaccines are up to date after the virus was detected in the UK.
The virus can cause paralysis in rare cases and can be deadly. Polio was eradicated in Britain in 2003, but the UK Health Security Agency have found the virus in sewage samples in London, collected from the London Beckton Sewage Treatment Works, which serves around four million people in north and east London.
Although it is normal for the virus to be picked up as isolated cases and not detected again, experts have raised the alarm after several genetically-linked viruses were found in samples between February and May. The UKHSA stressed the virus has only been detected in sewage samples and no cases of paralysis have been reported.
