Wastewater testing will begin in NSW and Victoria in the hopes of safeguarding against a resurgence of poliovirus.
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Previously believed to be eradicated, polio has this year been detected for the first time in decades around London, New York, and parts of Israel.
A man aged in his 20s in Rockland County, New York, had been reported as showing signs of paralysis after diagnosis with poliomyelitis in July.
The Washington Post confirmed the man was unvaccinated, but he represented the first case of the disease in nearly a decade.
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The UK declared a "national incident" back in June after it found traces of the virus in its East London sewage plants.
It was the first time the virus had been found in such a concerning concentration in four decades.
Australia has not had a case of locally-acquired polio since 1972, and was officially declared polio-free on October 29, 2000.
Until recently, polio was only considered to be endemic in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
In response to the newly discovered cases around the world, NSW and Victoria have implemented wastewater testing programs.
UNICEF Australia's senior vaccine advisor Chris Maher told AAP the surveillance program now needs to be extended into every state and territory.
"The network in Australia is not very extensive, but it would be great to see it become more extensive," Mr Maher said.
Australia's mass childhood vaccine program has seen an almost 95 per cent uptake, since it was introduced in 1956.
Given the high level of vaccination across the community, it's unlikely Australia would experience a poliovirus outbreak.
Infectious diseases expert at the Australian National University, Associate Professor Sanjaya Senanayake, told ACM in June that the latest detections around the world should promote vigilance but not concern in Australia.
Poliovirus cases do not always mean paralysis and iron lungs, as we tend to associate. About 75 per cent of us will have had polio at one point in our lives, but we will not have known.
"It can be an asymptomatic disease," Professor Senanayake said.
"The vast majority of the 25 per cent who do get symptoms, it's like a flu-like illness basically for most people."