Public health responses following identification of poliovirus in wastewater

Poliovirus continues to pose a global public health threat, with both wild and vaccine-derived viruses detected in clinical and environmental samples, including in countries declared to be polio free. Although wastewater and environmental surveillance increasingly reveal silent poliovirus circulation, how these findings are translated into public health action remains unclear. We reviewed the literature to identify documented events in which poliovirus detection in wastewater triggered public health responses across WHO regions.