NEW YORK – About 8 percent of wastewater samples tested in an area of 13 counties around New York City in recent months have tested positive for polio, the CDC said Friday, indicating community transmission and spread sustained virus in the region.
The trial follows the discovery of a case of paralytic polio in an unvaccinated man from Rockland County this summer. It’s the only known case so far, but data released on Friday make it clear that the virus has spread widely.
Between March 9 and October 11, researchers collected 1,076 wastewater samples from 48 sites covering 13 counties in the region. Of these, 89 samples, or 8.3% of the total, tested positive for poliovirus type 2.
“Although most people in the United States are sufficiently immunized, unvaccinated, or unvaccinated living or working in Kings, Orange, Queens, Rockland or Sullivan counties, New York should complete their polio vaccination series as soon as possible. “the researchers wrote.
Of the 89 positive samples, 82 were genetically linked to the Rockland County human infection and 80 of these 82 were found in Rockland, Sullivan and Orange counties.
A total of seven positive samples were found from sites serving the New York City area.
Wastewater testing coupled with high-quality surveillance of AFM (acute flaccid myelitis) helped clarify the extent of the polio outbreak in New York, indicating community transmission in an area of five counties near the United States. ‘the only symptomatic patient identified,’ wrote the CDC.
Its researchers point out that anyone living in Kings, Orange, Queens, Rockland, or Sullivan counties completes their series of polio vaccinations as soon as possible.
Last week, the CDC said it was considering using an oral polio vaccine for the first time in two decades in an effort to stop a possible outbreak.
