The New York State Department of Health confirmed that polio was detected in local wastewater in Rockland Countyfor the first time since October of last year.
The county issued a statement noting that there was only one positive result that was collected in the month of February and no other samples have tested for the virus to date.
County authorities said any resident who is not vaccinated should act immediately to better protect themselves.
As travel between Israel and Rockland County, which has a sizeable Jewish population, is expected to increase during the Passover holidays, the county stated that there is a real risk of spread and paralysis for those who are not vaccinated.
For its part, the Israeli Ministry of Health recently confirmed that four children tested positive in the northern part of the country. One of the minors had symptoms of paralysis, while the other three did not show any symptoms.
“It is our obligation to protect all of our residents from these debilitating and life-threatening diseases. The law requiring childhood immunizations has been in place for many years for this very reason,” said County Executive Ed Day.
“I urge our residents to act now and protect themselves, their family and their community,” he reported. NBC New York.
This positive polio wastewater test is not nearly as concerning as the numbers that had been coming in in October, when about 8% of samples tested in a 13-county area near New York City tested positive for the disease.which indicates sustained community transmission of the virus in the region.
That analysis followed the discovery of a case of paralytic polio in an unvaccinated Rockland County man during the summer of 2022, the only known case.
Last year, the CDC announced that it was considering using an oral polio vaccine for the first time in two decades in an effort to stop a potential outbreak.
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