Thousands of Australian children are at risk of polio even though the disease no longer exists in Australia.
Seven percent of the 250,000 children born in Australia each year - that is, 17,500 Australian children - are not immunised against polio, due to complacency, religious beliefs, or other reasons. As a result, Australian children could die from polio, or be paralysed for life.
Children who are not immunised are at risk of contracting the disease, because polio has flared in countries such as India, and polio is easily transmitted. The virus does not need a visa to travel to other countries, such as Australia.
All it takes needs is a person to wash their hands in contaminated water where the virus exists and touch their mouths to become carriers.
There is the possibility of a polio epidemic among Australian children who have not been immunised. 87,500 Australians under 5 years of age are at risk of contracting polio. About 1 in 10 children who contract the disease dies from it.
In the 1940s and 50s, before immunisation began in Australia, several hundred children died from polio each year. The last case of polio in Australia was in 1966.
Immunisation against polio is free in Australia, and there is no shortage of vaccine.
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