Poliovirus Detected Near Jerusalem

When the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reissued a Global Polio Alert on April 22, 2025, it identified 38 countries, indicating that the spread of poliovirus remains a public health emergency.

But the CDC did not mention Israel, but did include its neighbor, Gaza.

According to the Ministry of Health's Central Virus Laboratory, on April 24, 2025, poliovirus was detected in environmental samples in central Israel and the Jerusalem area, which has about 1 million residents. 

However, as of April 27, 2025, Israel's ministry had not reported any recent polio cases.

In March 2023, several children were confirmed with polio in Israel.

Over the past years, Israel has offered polio vaccination services throughout the country. But, as of March 2025, the administration of the live attenuated polio vaccine (oral) has been discontinued. 

In its place, the inactivated polio vaccine is now offered. This is the same polio vaccine provided in the United States.

Most African countries have switched to the nOPV2 polio vaccine over the past three years.

The CDC recommends that before travel to any listed destination, adults who previously completed the routine polio vaccine series may receive a single, lifetime booster dose of polio vaccine, which will extend their protection from this severe disease.