should I worry about "shed" polio virus from vax

[poppan]

I know in the US we use IPV, but I understand that many developing countries still use OPV because it's easier/cheaper to administer.

Should I be worried about shed vaccine-derived polio virus when we travel to other countries? We haven't gone anywhere yet, but my parents live in Hong Kong and I'm thinking about braving the flight to visit them next year. My kids will be 3 y.o. I hate staying in HK the whole time so I was going to suggest that we spend some time in Thailand. I am pretty sure both places would have people who had OPV. And now I'm reading in the Argentina polio thread that people can shed for up to 15 years!! I don't really understand why as a society we stand for inflicting disease on our own population in the name of protecting them, and on top of that I'm really worried for my kids. I feel fine about wild polio since it's pretty confined to seven countries, but what about vaccine-derived polio virus swimming around?

[Gitti]

You would have to come in the contact with the feces of a freshly vaccinated child. The danger is mostly to the care giver not anyone else.

In reality, we never know when or if we come in contact with a wild polio virus. I personally doubt that we have "eliminated" all polio viruses. Virus mutate to stay alive.

The truth is that the polio virus has never been very dangerous. Most everyone had immunity to it and very few people even noticed that they had been in contact with the virus. So why would it be any different now. Polio is a disease that is used and abused.

Most of the paralysis came from other sources and were attributed to Polio after they brought a vaccine on the market. DDT, a neurotoxin which caused paralysis (later counted as polio), was outlawed at pretty much the same time that the vaccine came on the market.

Get informed about the real story of polio and you won't fear it.