Ace Health Desk – In short: Poliovirus has been detected in a sample from the Subiaco wastewater treatment plant in Perth. 

Health officials say it is a vaccine-derived strain that has most likely come from someone who has travelled overseas, and presents a very low risk due to WA’s high vaccination rates.

What’s next?

WA’s Department of Health is increasing the frequency of wastewater poliovirus testing in the Perth metropolitan area.

Poliovirus has been detected in a sample of Perth’s wastewater, health officials have revealed.

Authorities said the detection in mid-April was evidence of a vaccine-derived poliovirus Type 2 strain, similar to what has been identified in Africa, Europe and Papua New Guinea in recent years.

Western Australia’s chief health officer, Dr Clare Huppatz, said it was the first time this particular strain had been detected in Australia, but presented a very low risk to the population. 

“While this is a significant finding, this detection does not provide evidence of spread of the disease in WA,”

she said.

“The potential for this strain to circulate in a highly vaccinated population is very low, and the poliovirus vaccination coverage in WA children is 92 per cent.”

Dr Huppatz noted the presence of the virus in wastewater in Europe during 2024 and 2025 did not lead to anyone developing the disease.

“This finding is most likely from someone who has travelled overseas and is shedding this virus strain,” she said.

“This sort of detection has occurred in Europe on several occasions across four different countries where this same strain has been detected in the wastewater.

“On each of those occasions it hasn’t led to outbreaks, in fact it hasn’t led to any single cases of disease.”

But Dr Huppatz said the case served as a reminder for people to be fully vaccinated against the disease while it still circulated overseas.

“It is a timely reminder that polio virus is still circulating around the world and of course with international travel it is something we could be exposed to even in Perth,” she said.

University of New South Wales medical epidemiologist Dr Abrar Chughtai said there had been similar detections in Australia recently. 

“Australia previously detected vaccine-derived poliovirus in Melbourne wastewater in 2024, linked to an unvaccinated traveller,” he said. 

“Similar detections have occurred globally in many countries … mainly in under-immunised populations, with no subsequent outbreaks.”

Testing increased​

The WA Department of Health said it was now increasing the frequency of wastewater poliovirus testing in the Perth metropolitan area.

Dr Huppatz said the virus was detected in the Subiaco wastewater treatment plant which covers Subiaco and the Perth CBD, an area of about 250,000 people.

She said people “can actually excrete the virus for quite some time”.

“We will also alert any clinicians to look for any clinical cases, as part of our surveillance,” she added.

History of polio in Australia

According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), Australia was declared polio-free in 2000.

“Although there has been no known local transmission of the poliovirus in Australia since 1972, there remains a risk of the importation of polio from overseas,” its website reads.

Since 1987, the only case of polio detected in Australia was in 2007 when an overseas-born student acquired the disease during a visit to a country with known ongoing polio transmission, according to the AIHW.

The previous two epidemics of polio in Australia were in 1956, and from 1960 to 1962.

Cases of polio sharply declined after 1956, when the vaccine was introduced.

Polio, also known as poliomyelitis, is a highly contagious viral infection caused by the poliovirus.

Polio spreads through contact with infected faeces, leading to gastrointestinal infection.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), polio can spread through contaminated water or food, and largely affects children under 5 years of age — although anyone of any age who is unvaccinated can contract the disease.

‘Wild’ poliovirus cases have decreased by over 99 per cent since 1988, the WHO said, but the virus is still endemic in two countries — Pakistan and Afghanistan.

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