CDC Expands Polio Travel Advisory to 29 Countries

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has updated its global travel advisory for polio, recommending that American travelers take enhanced precautions when visiting 29 countries where the virus is circulating. The advisory, currently at Level 2, includes several European nations such as Germany and the United Kingdom.

The CDC defines countries in this advisory as those that have detected poliovirus in human or environmental samples within the past 13 months. Polio is a highly infectious virus that primarily spreads through airborne droplets and feces and can attack the nervous system. While many infected individuals show no symptoms, severe cases can lead to muscle weakness, paralysis, and potentially death if breathing muscles are affected.

In Germany, poliovirus has been identified in wastewater samples from multiple locations, including Munich, Mainz, Frankfurt, and Cologne. A strain similar to one found in Afghanistan was detected in Hamburg in October 2025. In the United Kingdom, polio was detected in London's wastewater earlier this year.

The full list of countries affected by the advisory includes Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Germany, Israel, Laos, Malawi, Mali, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, United Kingdom, Yemen, and Zambia. The CDC has not specified the number of human cases in these locations.

Polio was eradicated in the United States in 1979, with only isolated cases reported since then. The polio vaccine is a routine childhood immunization in the U.S., Germany, and the UK, though less common in many African nations on the advisory list. The inactivated poliovirus vaccine is highly effective and administered in a four-dose series for children in the U.S., providing lifelong protection. Current CDC data indicates that 92.5% of U.S. children have received at least three doses of the vaccine.

Since the launch of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative in 1988, worldwide polio cases have decreased by 99%, preventing an estimated 20 million cases of paralysis in children. The CDC recommends that Americans traveling to listed countries ensure they are up-to-date on their polio vaccinations, consider a lifetime booster, and practice frequent hand washing to prevent transmission.

Polio can manifest with mild flu-like symptoms or progress to nonparalytic polio with more severe symptoms like neck and spine stiffness, or paralytic polio, which causes paralysis. The CDC noted that the disease can be fatal if it affects the muscles responsible for breathing or leads to brain infection.

The last confirmed polio case in the U.S. occurred in 2022 in an unvaccinated adult in Rockland County, New York.