Gone For A Decade, Polio Reappears In US After Case Detected In New York City

A case of polio was detected in New York City on Thursday, the first such case in the U.S. in a decade.

Public health officials in New York released an alert to the public that the case was found when a resident in Rockland County in Queens tested positive for polio. According to officials, the patient was not vaccinated against polio and they were working to determine if there are any more active cases in the community.

"We are monitoring the situation closely and working with the New York State Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to respond to this emergent public health issue to protect the health and wellbeing of county residents," said Rockland County Health Commissioner Dr. Patricia Schnabel Ruppert.

Federal and state officials said that the strain was a revertant polio Sabin type 2 virus. They added that this was indicative of a transmission chain that could be the result of an oral polio vaccine OPV) that is no longer administered in the U.S. This could suggest that the infection originated from abroad where the OPV is still administered.

Since the polio vaccine was first deployed in 1955 and after decades of a nationwide vaccination program, polio cases declined sharply with the last naturally occurring case being found in 1979. The last time a "wild strain" was recorded in the U.S. was in 2013.

Polio's symptoms include flu-like symptoms like nausea, tiredness or a fever, but more serious symptoms include spinal infection or paralysis in the limbs. The CDC warns that those without symptoms can spread the virus and those with them often don’t show visible symptoms.

After the case was identified, the authorities urged anyone who is currently unvaccinated against polio to get vaccinated immediately. They said a polio vaccination clinic will open on Friday followed by a second one on Monday that will offer vaccines for those who are unvaccinated, are concerned about being exposed to the virus, or those looking for a booster.

"Vaccines have protected our health against old and new viruses for decades," New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan said. "The fact is, the urgency of safe and effective vaccines has always been here, and we need New Yorkers to protect themselves against completely preventable viruses like Polio."