Tests indicated that the Rockland County case of the highly contagious virus may have come from outside the United States, the department said in a statement.
“We are closely monitoring the situation and are working with the New York State Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to respond to this pressing public health issue to protect the health and well-being of county residents,” Rockland County Health Commissioner Patricia Schnabel Ruppert said in a statement.
The CDC, which confirmed the case, has said there have been no cases of polio in the US since 1979. However, the virus was introduced into the country by travelers with polio. The last time this happened was in 1993, it said.
The symptoms of polio are flu-like symptoms, such as sore throat, fever, fatigue and nausea, the CDC said.
Polio invades the nervous system and can cause irreversible paralysis within hours. It cannot be cured, but infection can be prevented through vaccination – and a drastic reduction in the number of cases worldwide in recent decades has been due to intensive national and regional immunization campaigns in infants and children.
In the late 1940s, before polio vaccines became available, outbreaks of the virus disabled about 35,000 Americans each year, mostly children and people living in areas where sanitation is poor.
In June, polio was discovered in sewage samples in London, the first sign since the 1980s that the virus could be spreading in England, but no cases have been found, authorities said.
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