By Jennifer Rigby and Ludwig Burger

LONDON (Reuters) -The wild form of virus behind polio has been detected in wastewater sampling in Germany, the nation’s main public health body told Reuters on Wednesday, in a setback for efforts to rid the world of the deadly disease.

The findings come more than 30 years after the last cases of wild polio virus infections in people were registered in Germany and mark the first wild virus detection from environmental sampling in the country since this type of routine monitoring began in 2021.

“Wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) has been detected in a sewage sample in Germany,” the Robert Koch Institute said in a statement to Reuters, adding that no infections in people had been reported.

Polio, short for poliomyelitis, is a viral infection that can kill o

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