Polio case reported in New York; would be the first in the United States in nearly a decade

An unvaccinated young adult in New York recently contracted polio, which could be the first case in the United States in nearly a decadehealth officials announced on Thursday.

Authorities said the patient, who lives in Rockland County, developed paralysis. The person also developed symptoms a month ago and has not recently traveled outside the country, county health officials said.

It appears the patient had a vaccine-derived strain of the virus, perhaps from someone who received a live vaccine — available in other countries but not in the United States — and spread it, officials said.

The person is no longer considered contagious, but researchers are trying to find out how the infection occurred and if other people were exposed to the virus.

Most Americans are vaccinated against polio, but this should serve as a wake-up call for the unvaccinatedsaid Jennifer Nuzzo, a pandemic researcher at Brown University. to the San Diego Union-Tribune.

This is not normal. We don’t want to see this,” Nuzzo said. “If you’re vaccinated, it’s not something you need to worry about. But if you have not vaccinated your children, it is very important that you make sure they are up to date.”

Health officials scheduled vaccination clinics in New York for Friday and Mondayand encouraged anyone who hasn’t been vaccinated to do so.

“We want vaccines in the arms of those who need them,” Dr. Patricia Schnabel Ruppert, Rockland County health commissioner, said at a news conference Thursday.

Polio was once one of the most feared diseases in the country, with annual outbreaks causing thousands of cases of paralysis. The disease mainly affects children.

Vaccines became available starting in 1955, and a national vaccination campaign reduced the annual number of cases in the United States to less than 100 in the 1960s and less than 10 in the 1970s, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Disease Prevention.

In 1979, polio was declared eliminated in the United States, meaning it was no longer routinely spread.

On rare occasions, travelers have brought polio infections into the country; the last such case was in 2013, when a 7-month-old boy who had recently moved to the United States from India was diagnosed in San Antonio, Texas.

Also read:
· The COVID-19 vaccine for children between 6 months and 5 years
· First Lady Jill Biden will go on a national tour to promote vaccination of children against COVID
· Biden’s popularity in the fight against COVID-19 decreased in August due to an increase in cases

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