Poliomyelitis - Annual Epidemiological Report for 2015

The most recent polio outbreaks in what today constitutes the EU/EEA were in 2001 (three polio cases among Roma children in Bulgaria) and in 1992 (outbreak in the Netherlands in a religious community opposed to vaccination). Inactivated poliovirus vaccines are used in all EU/EEA countries. Wild-type polioviruses can cause natural disease, while live attenuated polio vaccine viruses may cause vaccine-associated paralytic polio (VAPP), although the risk is very low.