A case of polio has been confirmed in New York state, the health department announced Thursday. The infected person has a type 2 vaccine-derived poliovirus, STAT News reports. The department gave the source as an oral polio vaccine, which hasn't been used in the US since 2000. Other countries still administer the oral version, however. The state gave no information on the patient's age or whether the infected person had been in another country recently. The polio virus isn't known to have been brought into the US by a traveler since 1993, the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention says. A case hasn't originated in the US since 1979.
Saying that this case probably originated out of the country, state and Rockland County health officials asked providers to keep an eye out for more, per Axios. The virus is highly contagious, they said, and it can be 30 days before symptoms are noticed. The US employs an injectable vaccine that has killed viruses, which teach the immune system to recognize and combat polio. The vaccine cannot cause paralysis, per STAT News. The oral vaccine, however, has live but weakened polioviruses. In places with poor hygiene, those viruses can spread among children, strengthening until they are able to paralyze an infected person.
Rockland County Executive Ed Day urged parents to have their children vaccinated or boosted and scheduled vaccination clinics. Types 2 and 3 have been eradicated in the wild by the long effort against polio, but type 1 has not. Countries have been told not to use vaccines that contain the type 2 virus. But type 2 vaccine viruses have paralyzed 167 children in 12 nations so far this year. In urging action, Day reminded constituents of the fear polio once caused in families. "The fact that it is still around decades after the vaccine was created shows you just how relentless it is," he said. (More polio stories.)
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