The Department of Health has said there is no need to panic after the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) detected two polio virus strains (VDPV3 and nOPV2-L) in wastewater samples from a treatment plant in Cape Town, reports News24.
The findings were part of the NICD’s routine environmental and wastewater testing aimed at proactive, population-wide disease tracking, according to the department.
“This entails analysing municipal sewage and water resources to detect emerging outbreaks and viral variants before clinical cases appear,” said spokesperson Foster Mohale.
“These detections are called ‘vaccine events’ because no actual cases of the virus have been detected in a human being. These events need a public health response, are not high risk, and no additional vaccination campaign is required.”
He said the viruses found in the wastewater were probably from imported cases – from people vaccinated with shots that were different from those used in South Africa.
“The department, working closely with the NICD, has activated appropriate health response activities, including strengthening surveillance and increasing the frequency of environmental sampling of wastewater,” Mohale added.
News24 article – Two polio virus strains detected in Cape Town wastewater – NICD (Restricted access)
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