by Donald Wood
Last updated: 7:50 AM ET, Thu March 5, 2026
Travelers preparing for Spring Break should be aware of a
new alert issued by the United States Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) for 32 countries regarding a poliovirus outbreak.
The “Level 2” CDC advisory urges travelers to “practice
enhanced precautions” due to a “circulating poliovirus” affecting popular
destinations such as Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom.
To combat the disease, the CDC said that children and adults
should be up-to-date on polio vaccines before visiting impacted destinations,
and anyone who finished their full polio vaccinations could get “a single,
lifetime booster dose of polio vaccine.”
The following countries have been listed in the CDC’s advisory:
Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African
Republic, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Ethiopia,
Finland, Gaza, Germany, Ghana, Guinea, Israel, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Papua
New Guinea, Poland, Senegal, Somalia, South Sudan, Spain, Sudan, Tanzania, the United
Kingdom, Yemen, and Zimbabwe.
While poliovirus has been eliminated in the U.S. for years
due to advances in vaccination practices, the rare disease remains a concern in
other parts of the world, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
“Polio hasn’t been completely wiped out, but childhood
vaccines have gotten rid of it in most places,” a spokesperson for the Cleveland
Clinic told Fox8.com.
“In the early 1900s, polio paralyzed and killed thousands of people. Thanks to
vaccines, cases have dropped a lot in the last 70 years. But if polio exists
anywhere, it can spread again — especially if fewer people get vaccinated.”
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