Polio in Ukraine

30 Oct 2019

On 24 October 2019, the Ukrainian Ministry of Health reported (in Ukrainian) a case of polio in a two year old child in Volyn Oblast. This area is in the north-west of the country on the borders with Poland and Belarus. Recently, Ukraine has been considered at risk of polio outbreaks because of insufficient rates of vaccination in the country.

Advice for Travellers

The World Health Organisation recommends that "all travellers to polio-affected areas be fully vaccinated against polio. Residents (and visitors for more than 4 weeks) from infected areas should receive an additional dose of OPV or inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) within 4 weeks to 12 months of travel."

Travellers to polio-affected areas should be offered a booster of poliomyelitis vaccine if it has been more than 10 years since their last dose.

For further information see Poliomyelitis.