The first case of polio in nearly a decade was announced in the U.S. on Thursday, July 21. According to the health department of New York State, an individual who lives in Rockland County, 48 kilometers north of Manhattan, tested positive for the illness.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), America last had polio in 2013. Officials said that the most recent case was of a type that was "indicative of a transmission chain from an individual who had the oral polio vaccination (OPV)". In the United States, the oral vaccination was stopped in 2000.
"This suggests that the virus may have originated in a location outside of the US where OPV is administered since revertant strains cannot emerge from inactivated vaccines," New York's health department in a statement said.
The region's unvaccinated residents were urged to receive the injection by officials, who also cautioned medical professionals to be on the alert for other cases.
Rockland County Health Commissioner Dr. Patricia Schnabel Ruppert said in a statement on Thursday that the case involved a young adult who had not left the country. She stated that the patient did exhibit weakness and paralysis when the symptoms first started around a month ago. "We are now surveying the family and close contacts of this individual to assess the risk to the community," she added.
The county's Department of Health is collaborating with the local healthcare system and community leaders to inform the public and provide polio immunization, according to the county's health commissioner.
"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 Dr. Ruppert.
The devastating and potentially fatal viral disease known as polio, which primarily affects children under the age of five, has been on the verge of eradication in recent decades thanks to a massive global effort.
Since 1988, when polio was endemic in 125 countries and 350,000 cases were recorded worldwide, cases have decreased by 99 percent.
Cases in the United States fell dramatically after a vaccine was developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s. In 1979, the last naturally occurring cases of polio in the United States were reported.
A form of poliovirus originating from vaccinations was discovered in samples of London sewage, according to the World Health Organization and British health experts, who announced the discovery last month.
