Overview
- Germany’s Robert Koch Institute reported a wild poliovirus type 1 finding in a wastewater sample, with no clinical poliomyelitis cases notified.
- Hamburg’s health authority said the positive sample was collected in early October from a citywide catchment that also includes parts of neighboring states, so the exact source cannot be pinpointed.
- Since late 2024, multiple sites in Germany have detected circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 in wastewater, and both cVDPV2 and wild poliovirus can cause disease in people without sufficient vaccination.
- The RKI urges children, adolescents, and adults to follow STIKO polio vaccination recommendations and close immunization gaps; the inactivated vaccine used in Germany reliably prevents disease but only partly blocks infection and onward spread.
- Wild poliovirus now circulates only in Afghanistan and Pakistan globally, and authorities are continuing environmental surveillance and further assessments in Germany.