Health authorities in New York state urged this Thursday to vaccinate adults and children who are not immunized against polio, citing new evidence of a possible outbreak of this dangerous virus that may be spreading among the population.
Poliovirus has been detected in seven separate sewage samples in two counties adjacent to northern New York City, according to health officials.
So far only one person has tested positive for polio, an adult in Rockland County who was unvaccinated and was
paralyzed
by polio, the disease caused by the virus.
It is the first case detected in the United States in nearly a decade.
But “New Yorkers should know that
for every reported case of paralytic polio, there may be hundreds of people infected
,” state Health Commissioner Dr. Mary T. Bassett warned in a statement, citing data from previous outbreaks.
Alert in New York after the detection of the first case of polio in the country in almost a decade
July 22, 202200:25
"We are treating the single case of polio as the tip of the iceberg of potentially much larger spread," Bassett explained.
[He was diagnosed with herpes and scabies but had monkeypox. His case portrays US failures in the face of the outbreak]
“
The danger of polio is present in New York.
We must fight back by ensuring that adults, including pregnant women, and young children up to two months of age, are up to date on their immunizations, the safe protection against this debilitating virus that every New Yorker needs,” he added.
The sewage findings announced Thursday included three samples from Rockland County and four from Orange County, all of which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) tested and found to be related to the only case, according to NBC News.
Polio virus. Sarah Poser, Meredith Boyter Newlove/CDC via AP
Polio, once one of the nation's most feared diseases, was declared eradicated in the United States in 1979, more than two decades after vaccines became available.
Most infected people
have no symptoms
,
but can continue to spread the virus to others for days or weeks.
A small percentage suffer from
paralysis.
The disease, for which
there is no cure,
is fatal for between 5 and 10% of paralyzed people.
Although there are no more confirmed cases in Rockland and Orange counties, the area is below the state average in vaccination rate, according to official data cited by NBC News.
Rockland has a 60.5% vaccination rate among 2-year-olds, compared to the state average of 79.1%;
Orange has a 58.6% vaccination rate among 2-year-olds.
Monkeypox: this is how the wave of infections has grown since its arrival in the US
Aug 5, 202200:58
Polio is highly contagious, with children under the age of 5 being most at risk, although any unvaccinated person is susceptible to contracting the disease.
The poliovirus enters the body through the mouth, in water or food that has been contaminated with fecal material from an infected person, according to the CDC.
It multiplies in the intestine and is excreted in the feces, which can transmit it to other people.
It is spread through contact with the feces of an infected person or with droplets from a sneeze or cough.
If feces or droplets from an infected person get on your hands and you touch your mouth, you can become infected.
Also, if your child puts objects, such as toys, that have feces or droplets in their mouth, they can become infected.
An infected person can spread the virus to others just before and usually one to two weeks after developing symptoms.
The virus can live in the feces of an infected person for many weeks.
You can contaminate food and water by touching it with unwashed hands.
[Monkeypox has the potential to become a new sexually transmitted disease]
Based on the Rockland patient's strain of virus, it is believed that the infection was transmitted by someone who had been inoculated with a weakened live vaccine, which is not administered in the United States.
On rare occasions, people who receive this version of the vaccine, which is administered orally, can shed viral particles that can infect unvaccinated people.
"These findings provide further evidence of local (not international) transmission of a polio virus that can cause paralysis and potential community spread, underscoring the urgency for all New York adults and children to be vaccinated." authorities said in a statement.