FEARS that polio vaccination might be stopped too soon have been heightened
by the discovery of suspected wild-type polio in sewage in the French city of
Strasbourg.
Doctors are combing medical records to see if misdiagnosed patients could
have been affected by the virus. However, suspicion has centred on activities in
Strasbourg’s many biomedical laboratories.
The discovery was made when officials investigated a city water pipe last
May, after it was contaminated by sewage. Sixty cases of gastroenteritis in the
area served by the water pipe confirmed the sewage contamination.
To their surprise, the authorities also found polio. “But we…
