KENT COUNTY, Mich. — The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued a Level 2 travel advisory due to spreading polio cases in more than 30 countries, including popular vacation destinations like Spain, Germany and the United Kingdom.
Dr. Andrew Jameson, an infectious disease doctor with Trinity Health, says polio is a virus that can have serious consequences.
“Polio virus is in the family of something called enterovirus. We have lots of them circulating. It can cause just a common cold. It can cause kind of some rare causes of meningitis, but this is a unique one that attacks our nervous system,” Jameson said.
In some cases, that can even lead to paralysis. Jameson says the effects of polio can also resurface later.
“This is something that can come back later in life. And actually, one of the things we’re seeing right now in some of our elderly population is that people who had polio as a kid, even if they have no residual deficits, will have increased rates of falls, increased balance issues, muscle weakness that we’re seeing right now,” Jameson said.
Polio vaccines are part of routine childhood immunizations, but Jameson says adults traveling abroad may also want to consider a booster.
“It’s an inactivated polio vaccine. You can get them from the health department. A lot of primary care offices also will have them,” Jameson said.
The last natural polio infection in the U.S. was recorded in 1979.
For travelers staying stateside this spring break, measles is also a concern. States with sunny destinations, like South Carolina and Florida, are currently seeing some of the largest measles outbreaks.
“Measles is not cool. It sucks,” Jameson said. “You get pretty sick, you feel pretty crummy, very high fevers, and then the characteristic rash is what is really there. So it’s a non blanching rash, which means that if you push on it, the rash doesn’t go away. Typically, chest and face. You get it. It’s quite prominent,” Jameson said.
For vaccinated travelers, however, Jameson says the risk remains relatively low.
“Make sure you’re up to date, but if you actually talked about the real risk, it’s pretty low for travelers, even inside the United States right now. So it’s not something that I lose sleep over,” Jameson said.
The CDC’s polio travel advisory is rated Level 2 out of a possible 4.
You can find the full list of impacted countries on the CDC’s website here.
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