An unvaccinated young adult from New York recently
contracted polio, the first US case in nearly a decade, health officials said
Thursday.
Officials said the patient, who lives in Rockland County,
had developed paralysis. The person developed symptoms a month ago and did not
recently travel outside the country, county health officials said.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News
channel.
It appears the patient had a vaccine-derived strain of the
virus, perhaps from someone who got live vaccine — available in other
countries, but not the US — and spread it, officials said.
The person is no longer deemed contagious, but investigators
are trying to figure out how the infection occurred and whether other people
were exposed to the virus.
Most Americans are vaccinated against polio, but this should
serve as a wake-up call to the unvaccinated, said Jennifer Nuzzo, a Brown
University pandemic researcher.
"This isn't normal. We don't want to see this,"
Nuzzo said. "If you're vaccinated, it's not something you need to worry
about. But if you haven't gotten your kids vaccinated, it's really important
that you make sure they're up to date."
Health officials scheduled vaccination clinics in New York
for Friday and Monday, and encouraged anyone who has not been vaccinated to get
the shots.
"We want shots in the arms of those who need it,"
Rockland County Health Commissioner Dr. Patricia Schnabel Ruppert said at a
Thursday news conference.
Polio was once one of the nation's most feared diseases,
with annual outbreaks causing thousands of cases of paralysis. The disease
mostly affects children.
Vaccines became available starting in 1955, and a national
vaccination campaign cut the annual number of U.S. cases to less than 100 in
the 1960s and fewer than 10 in the 1970s, according to the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention.
In 1979, polio was declared eliminated in the U.S., meaning
there was no longer routine spread.
Rarely, travelers have brought polio infections into the
U.S. The last such case was in 2013, when a 7-month-old who had recently moved
to the U.S. from India was diagnosed in San Antonio, Texas, according the federal
health officials. That child also had the type of polio found in the live form
of vaccine used in other countries.
There are two types of polio vaccines. The US and many other
countries use shots made with an inactivated version of the virus. But some countries
where polio has been more of a recent threat use a weakened live virus that is
given to children as drops in the mouth. In rare instances, the weakened virus
can mutate into a form capable of sparking new outbreaks.
US children are still routinely vaccinated against polio
with the inactivated vaccine. Federal officials recommend four doses: to be
given at 2 months of age; 4 months; at 6 to 18 months; and at age 4 through 6
years. Some states require only three doses.
According to the CDC's most recent childhood vaccination
data, about 93% of 2-year-olds had received at least three doses of polio
vaccine.
Polio spreads mostly from person to person or through
contaminated water. It can infect a person's spinal cord, causing paralysis and
possibly permanent disability and death.
Polio is endemic in Afghanistan and Pakistan, although
numerous countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia have also reported cases
in recent years.
Rockland County, in New York City's northern suburbs, has
been a center of vaccine resistance in recent years. A 2018-2019 measles
outbreak there infected 312 people.
Last month, health officials in Britain warned parents to
make sure children have been vaccinated because the polio virus had been found
in London sewage samples. No cases of paralysis were reported.
Comments
Post a Comment