A four-year-old child, a resident of Jerusalem, has been diagnosed with polio. The child had allegedly not been vaccinated against the polio virus.
The source of the infection in this case appears to be shedded virus from the vaccine itself which was able to cause illness in an unvaccinated person.
According to the Health Ministry, the best way to guard against polio infection is to be vaccinated against the virus according to schedule.
The Jerusalem health department is now conducting an epidemiological investigation into the infection and will be locating all those with whom the child has been in close contact, in order to give those people specific instructions as to how to proceed. The results of the investigation will enable health officials to decide on further courses of action, if appropriate.
It is important to note that the polio virus is often found in sewage, although no recent cases of actual infection have been reported. Polio virus can be transmitted from person to person and is usually transmitted between children. The virus enters the body through the mouth and is excreted in the feces. Infection is usually asymptomatic; only one in a thousand of those infected will develop symptoms that can include paralysis.