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Health

Polio is back — how concerned should Americans be?

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CNN
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New York’s governor has declared a state of emergency after health officials detected poliovirus in the wastewater of five counties – evidence the disease is circulating. The declaration also follows a report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of an unvaccinated person in Rockland County, New York, who was diagnosed with paralytic polio this summer – the first case identified in the United States in nearly a decade.

Understandably, these events have sparked a lot of questions: Why does one case of polio worry officials? What does it mean to find poliovirus in wastewater? Who should be worried about contracting the disease? If someone had the vaccine years ago, are they still protected now?

To understand more about this disease, which most people alive today have never experienced, I spoke with CNN Medical Analyst Dr. Leana Wen, an emergency physician and professor of health policy and management at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health. She is also author of “Lifelines: A Doctor’s Journey in the Fight for Public Health.”

CNN: So far, there has been only one documented case of paralysis due to poliovirus in New York. Why does one case worry health officials?

Dr. Leana Wen: An August report from the CDC said that “even a single case of paralytic polio represents a public health emergency in the United States.” This is for two main reasons.

First, polio is a disease with the potential for very severe consequences. During its peak in the 1940s and 1950s, polio resulted in tens of thousands of children becoming paralyzed every year. Thousands died from the virus.

This changed with the introduction of vaccines that are highly effective – more than 99% effective at protecting against paralytic polio. Thanks to massive vaccination campaigns, the last incidence of wild-type polio occurred in 1979 – and it had been considered to be eliminated in the United States. The reemergence of such a disease, which can have such serious impacts, is a major threat.

Second, the one case of paralytic polio may be the tip of a large iceberg. Most cases of polio infection are asymptomatic and do not cause paralysis. Symptoms – which can include fatigue, fever and diarrhea – tend to be mild and can resemble those of other viruses. Public health officials are worried there are many other people who may be infected with polio and could be transmitting it unknowingly.

This is particularly concerning because Rockland County, where the recent paralytic case of the virus was diagnosed, has a polio vaccination rate of just 60%. In some parts of the county, the vaccination rate is as low as 37%. These numbers are far below the threshold needed for herd immunity, and that means there are a lot of individuals in the area who are vulnerable to polio infection and potential severe outcomes.

CNN: What does it mean that poliovirus has been detected in the wastewater of five counties, including New York City?

Wen: Finding poliovirus in sewage means one of two things: That there are people actively infected with polio who are shedding the virus, or that the virus signal could be from people who recently received the oral polio vaccine (OPV). OPV is no longer given in the United States – since 2000, the version used in the US is the inactivated polio vaccine (IPV), which is injected – but other countries are still using OPV, and it’s possible that travelers from those places are shedding virus from the vaccine.

In rare circumstances, the weakened virus from people who just received OPV could cause paralytic polio in unvaccinated individuals – which is a major reason why OPV is no longer used in the US.

One additional point of concern is that a wastewater sample from Nassau County on Long Island has been genetically linked to the paralytic polio case identified in Rockland County. (The two counties are not adjacent, rather approximately 40 miles apart.) This is further evidence of community spread that’s going largely undetected.

CNN: How can people contract polio?

Wen: Polio is an infectious disease that can be transmitted in a number of ways. A primary route is fecal-oral, meaning someone could get polio if they come into contact with feces from an infected person. This could occur, especially in children, through putting objects like toys that have been contaminated with feces into the mouth.

Poliovirus could also be transmitted through the respiratory route – for example, if someone who is infected coughs or sneezes and those droplets land around your mouth. It’s worth nothing that people who are vaccinated could also contract polio and pass it on to others, though they are extremely well-protected from severe illness themselves.

CNN: Should New Yorkers be worried about contracting polio?

Wen: Again, people who are vaccinated against polio are extremely well-protected from paralytic polio, and should not be concerned at this point. It should be pointed out, however, that while IPV is very good at preventing the most severe potential effects of the disease, people who received the vaccine could still be carriers of polio and could transmit it to others. Those at risk for serious outcomes are people who are unvaccinated and those who are incompletely vaccinated, including young children under 6 who have not yet completed their polio vaccine series.

CNN: How many polio vaccines should someone receive?

Wen: The CDC recommends children receive four doses of IPV. The first is given at 2 months of age, the second at 4 months, the third between 6 and 18 months old and the fourth between 4 and 6 years old.

Adults who have never been vaccinated against polio should receive three doses of IPV. The first should be given as soon as possible, the second one to two months after that and the third six to 12 months after the second.

CNN: If someone had the vaccine years ago, are they still protected? Who should get a polio booster now?

Wen: The protection against severe disease remains strong for many years after immunization; it’s believed it probably lasts for a lifetime. There is no need for most vaccinated people to get more doses.

However, if someone has not completed their original vaccine series, they should get their remaining doses. Some fully vaccinated people can also receive an additional lifetime booster of IPV under specific circumstances – for example, if they have direct contact with someone suspected of having polio or if they are health care workers with higher risk of exposure to people with the disease.

CNN: What if you’re not sure whether you were vaccinated? Say you don’t recall getting the vaccine, and it’s been many years. Is there a blood test you can take to verify either way?

Wen: You could check with your primary care physician’s office or state health department to see whether they have records of your immunizations. If they don’t, and there is no other way for you to verify – for example, by asking parents or other relatives or caregivers – you should speak with your health care provider about getting the full vaccine series for polio now. There is no blood test that can reliably detect whether you’re fully vaccinated against polio.

CNN: What if you or your family members haven’t yet gotten vaccinated against poliovirus?

Wen: People who have yet to receive any doses or are incompletely vaccinated should make sure to get their entire polio vaccine series right away. This is particularly important if they live in or around Rockland County in New York – but really everyone should get caught up with their routine immunizations.

It was a tragedy decades ago that so many children became permanently paralyzed and even died from polio. This should not happen again, since we have such effective vaccines that can prevent severe consequences of the disease.

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A Virus That Can Cause Polio-Like Paralysis in Children Has Returned

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Image: Shutterstock (Shutterstock)

A virus that can rarely cause a polio-like paralysis in children has resurfaced in the U.S. after mostly disappearing during the covid-19 pandemic. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that it has spotted a surge of cases linked to enterovirus D-68. Based on recent past outbreaks, officials expect that a small percentage of these cases will develop a serious neurological condition known as acute flaccid myelitis.

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Over the weekend, the CDC issued a health advisory concerning EV-D68. Since August 2022, doctors and hospitals in several parts of the country have notified the agency of an increase of severe respiratory illness cases and hospitalizations among children caused by two groups of viruses: rhinoviruses and enteroviruses. Further testing has shown that some of these cases were caused by EV-D68, and the CDC’s own surveillance data has shown a higher proportion of respiratory illnesses tied to the virus this summer compared to the past three years.

EV-D68 is one of many viruses that usually cause a mild common cold, mostly in children. However, it’s become apparent in recent years that the infection can sometimes trigger AFM. The virus is a cousin of the poliovirus, which has long been known to cause a similar paralytic condition in about 0.1% of victims. And it’s suspected that EV-D68 has recently mutated in some way that makes it more similar to polio and thus more likely to cause AFM, though it is still a rare complication.

The primary symptoms of AFM are sudden limb weakness, and some will also experience facial weakness, slurred speech, and pain along their limbs and back. In the most severe cases, people can develop a life-threatening paralysis that causes respiratory failure, while others may develop permanent paralysis.

There are probably several causes of AFM, including other enteroviruses, but the spike in cases seen since at least 2014 is closely connected to outbreaks of EV-D68 in particular. These outbreaks of EV-D68 and AFM had occurred every two years on schedule during the past decade, likely as a result of population immunity falling low enough for large groups of children to catch it all at once. But this pattern, which would have predicted another AFM outbreak in 2020, changed once the covid-19 pandemic arrived.

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While mostly everyone has contracted covid-19 by now, much of the world took precautions during the first years of the pandemic to avoid unnecessary social and physical contact. These efforts may have only slowed down the spread of the highly contagious coronavirus, but they were more effective at curbing the transmission of many other, less-contagious infections, EV-D68 included. It’s only recently that many garden variety germs have begun to storm back in frequency, and experts have warned that EV-D68 would eventually follow suit as well. The virus tends to be seasonal, arriving in the summer, just as it has now.

There have been nearly 700 confirmed cases of AFM documented by the CDC since 2014, when the agency began formally tracking it. During past outbreak years, there were around 150 to 200 cases of AFM. So far, only 13 cases have been reported in 2022. But the condition typically appears weeks after the initial symptoms of a common cold, and past outbreaks of AFM have similarly followed outbreaks of EV-D68. In its advisory, the CDC calls for doctors to be on the lookout for the condition and notes that “increased vigilance for AFM in the coming weeks will be essential.”

The actual poliovirus has made something of an unwelcome return in the U.S. this summer. In July, a young New York resident developed paralytic polio, and the virus has since been found in the state’s wastewater, indicating the potential for further spread. The virus may not spread very far, thanks to a highly effective vaccine and a high vaccination rate (over 92% nationwide), but it remains a danger to the unvaccinated, and its return could imperil the global effort to eradicate polio as a human disease.

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Respiratory illness among children could lead to polio-like condition

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(WXIN) – Doctors across the U.S. have seen an increase among children of a respiratory virus that can cause polio-like muscle weakness.

In most cases, enterovirus D68 (EV-D68) causes a respiratory illness with mild symptoms. It can, however, result in a condition called acute flaccid myelitis (AFM) that can cause inflammation of the spinal cord. Those suffering from AFM can have trouble moving their arms while others experience muscle weakness. In severe cases, it can lead to respiratory failure or life-threatening neurologic complications.

According to an alert issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week, pediatric hospitalizations are on the rise among patients with severe respiratory illness who tested positive for rhinovirus (RV) and/or enterovirus (EV). Some of the patients have also tested positive for EV-D68 — and hospital sites are reporting a higher proportion of EV-D68 patients compared to previous years.

This isn’t the first time EV-D68 has caused problems. In 2014, an outbreak of enterovirus D68 was reported in multiple states. The outbreak involved nearly 1,400 people, although an undercount is very likely because many who experienced mild symptoms didn’t get tested.

Increased activity was also reported in 2016 and 2018, with lower circulation in 2020 likely due to COVID-19 mitigation measures.

Between July 2022 and August 2022, the number of detected EV-D68 cases was greater than the period from the three previous years (2019, 2020 and 2021). While the CDC hasn’t seen increased reports of AFM, an increase in AFM cases generally follows an increase in EV-D68 cases, the agency said.

The CDC alert asks providers to consider EV-D68 as a possible cause of respiratory illnesses among children and warns of a potential increase in cases in the weeks to come. Common symptoms for EV-D68 include cough, shortness of breath and wheezing. Fever is present in about half of known cases.

“On rare occasions, EV-D68 may cause AFM,” the CDC noted in its alert. “This rare but serious neurologic condition primarily affects children and typically presents with sudden limb weakness.”

According to the CDC, signs of AFM include:

  • arm or leg weakness
  • pain in the neck, back, arms, or legs
  • difficulty swallowing or slurred speech
  • difficulty moving the eyes or drooping eyelids
  • facial droop or weakness

The agency noted that there are no available vaccines or specific treatments.

Infants, children and teenagers are most likely to get infected. Those who suffer from asthma may be at greater risk for severe cases of EV-D68.

The CDC urges the public to follow typical prevention measures:

  • Wash your hands often with soap and water for 20 seconds
  • Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands
  • Avoid close contact such as kissing, hugging, and sharing cups or eating utensils with people who are sick, and when you are sick
  • Cover your coughs and sneezes with a tissue or your upper shirt sleeve, not your hands
  • Clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces, such as toys and doorknobs, especially if someone is sick
  • Stay home when you are sick
  • Consider wearing a mask around other people if you have respiratory symptoms
  • Contact a healthcare provider immediately if you or your child has trouble breathing or has a sudden onset of limb weakness
  • Ensure you or your child are following an up-to-date asthma action plan if you or your child have asthma
  • Stay up-to-date with all recommended vaccines

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Polio may make a comeback – and it started with falsely linking autism to vaccination | Paul Steiger

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One of my earliest memories, perhaps the earliest of all, goes back to when I was about four years old, in 1946, living in the Bronx borough of New York City. I awoke to a searing headache and fiery fever, aching all over. I remember a tube being inserted into my privates, to help withdraw urine. I awoke again, I don’t know how much later, hours or days, in a hospital ward. In the bed next to me was a man engaged with a terrifying contraption I now know was an iron lung, to help him breathe.

I could breathe OK, and the terrible fever and headaches had subsided. But I couldn’t move my legs.

My disease, I soon learned, was called infantile paralysis, poliomyelitis, or just polio. I had a relatively mild version. Within two or three weeks, when the acute stage ended, I was taken across the Hudson River to a rehabilitation hospital in a place called Haverstraw, New York. Over a period of months there, helped by a determined staff, I gradually regained some strength in my legs. I could walk but not yet run. Still, I could go home to our apartment in the Bronx, reconnect with my brother and parents, and start kindergarten, on time, with my age mates.

Professor Monica Trujillo holds up a wastewater sample at a lab at Queens College on 25 August 2022. The disease has been detected in New York City sewage. Photograph: Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty Images

Like much of America, we moved to the suburbs, to Connecticut and then to New Jersey. But summer after summer, fear of the virus followed us, particularly for my mother. Her brother as a young man had contracted a version of the disease that left him in a wheelchair for the remaining decades of his life. She lived in continuing terror that one or both of her younger sons would be afflicted, perhaps more seriously than her eldest.

The emergence of effective vaccines, starting in 1954, miraculously released such fears.

That left me as the lone member of our family with a continuing connection with polio. For me, having been spared the more serious consequences of partial or total paralysis, the lifelong after-effects of polio have been occasionally quite painful but mostly an annoyance.

Up to now. The advent of new viral agents of disease, most particularly the coronavirus, and my own experience with polio’s manifestations in later life, have made me more sensitive to the risks the polio virus may hold in the future. Unless we humans can commit to greater discipline in eradicating the virus altogether, polio conceivably might have a new day in the sun. More broadly, other viruses may prove harder to control, because vaccines, by far the most effective tool against them, work best when everyone is treated.

Just a few years ago, things were looking a lot more encouraging.

An Indian health volunteer holds a vial containing the pulse polio oral vaccine in Bangalore, India, in February 2022. Photograph: Jagadeesh Nv/EPA

David M Oshinsky’s 2005 book, Polio, An American Story, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for history, dramatically lays out how individual scientists, universities, drug companies, private charities, and government at all levels – working separately and together in the 1940s and 1950s – proved the safety and effectiveness of two competing anti-polio vaccines. The vaccines then became part of the routine for countless children in the United States and most other economically developed countries, largely eliminating new polio infections there.

Next efforts turned to less-developed countries in Asia, Africa, and elsewhere.

In 1988, the World Health Organization, Rotary International, and what is now the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention launched their Global Polio Eradication program, aimed at eliminating polio, the way predecessor efforts had done with smallpox. At the time, 350,000 children in 125 countries were infected with the disease, according to Rosemary Rochford, a virologist and professor of immunology and microbiology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, writing in The Conversation. By 2021, the number was down to six cases around the world, she wrote.

Meanwhile, the success with polio elimination had helped pave the way in the United States for development and introduction of vaccines for measles in 1963, then for such other diseases as mumps and rubella. The combined “MMR” vaccines became standard for babies in the United States.

Then trouble emerged. Some reports, though definitively discredited, gave rise to the belief in a link between vaccination and autism. When the coronavirus struck, researchers and drug companies rapidly produced safe and effective vaccines to repel several versions of the mutating Covid virus. But the other side of the vaccine-versus-virus equation – getting everyone vaccinated – was no longer so readily achieved.

Whether for politics, religion, fear of side effects, or a prioritization of individualism, some people no longer embraced the collaborative spirit that made other massive vaccination drives so successful.

The commitment to social good necessary to meet public health challenges became apparent not just in the coronavirus, but also in seemingly conquered diseases like polio. An unvaccinated adult in one of New York’s suburbs was diagnosed with the disease. Polio virus samples were detected in the city’s wastewater.

These are small signs so far. But these are my neighbors, my nearby neighborhoods. And we know that viruses mutate, and that they can cause long-term damage.

I empathize with people struggling with long Covid, because polio is a disease that can re-emerge with age. I was in my 60s when I first began to notice my leg muscles atrophying. For a time, exercise helped. But as I turned 80 this summer, my leg weakness has increased. I have trouble with slightly hilly sidewalks, for instance. My doctor is the same age. No polio. No trouble with hills.

As a species, we are slowly beginning to take actions in order to keep our physical world livable. We’re also learning how the tiniest organisms – insects, and yes viruses – adapt to our changing environment. Inventing vaccines may no longer be enough. We may well have to adapt our behavior to help the vaccines work.

The scratch and scar I got on my arm as a kid was enough to assure my age cohort didn’t have to worry about smallpox, so long as we all got the same scar. It is time to recognize that personal wellbeing depends on individual investment in the greater good.

Paul Steiger is the founder of ProPublica and the former managing editor of the Wall Street Journal. Dean Rotbart’s biography of him is scheduled for publication next year

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New York Gov. Declares Emergency After Poliovirus Found In More Wastewater

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ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said Friday the state was stepping up its polio-fighting efforts as the virus that causes the life-threatening disease was detected in the wastewater of yet another county in the New York City area.

Health officials began checking for signs of the virus in sewage water after the first case of polio in the United States in nearly a decade was identified in July in Rockland County, which is north of the city. The latest detection involved a wastewater sample collected last month in Nassau County on Long Island, directly east of the city.

Illustration of poliovirus.

THOM LEACH / SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY via Getty Images

The sample is genetically linked to the polio case from Rockland and provides further evidence of expanding community spread, state health officials said. The poliovirus had previously been detected in wastewater in New York City and three counties to its north: Rockland, Orange and Sullivan.

Hochul declared a state disaster emergency that allows EMS workers, midwives and pharmacists to administer polio vaccines and allows doctors to issue standing orders for the vaccine. Data on immunizations will be used to focus vaccination efforts where they’re needed the most.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul.

Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images

“On polio, we simply cannot roll the dice,” state Health Commissioner Dr. Mary T. Bassett said in a prepared statement. “If you or your child are unvaccinated or not up to date with vaccinations, the risk of paralytic disease is real. I urge New Yorkers to not accept any risk at all.”

Health officials said all unvaccinated New York residents — including children by 2 months of age, pregnant people and those who haven’t completed their vaccine series — should get immunized immediately. They also urged boosters for certain people, such as healthcare workers in affected areas who treat patients who might have polio.

The statewide polio vaccination rate is 79%, but the counties of Rockland, Orange and Sullivan had lower rates.

Officials have said that it is possible that hundreds of people in the state have gotten polio and don’t know it. Most people infected with polio have no symptoms but can still give the virus to others for days or weeks.

The lone confirmed case in New York involved an unidentified young adult who was unvaccinated.

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Polio New York: State disaster emergency declared after virus found in Nassau County wastewater

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NASSAU COUNTY, Long Island (WABC) — Nassau is the latest county in the state to detect polio in the wastewater — indicating community spread.

Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a state disaster emergency amid “evidence of circulating polio.”

The declaration will allow more types of providers to administer the polio vaccine, like pharmacists, in effect, making it easier to get.

It does not mean there is an outbreak. But it does mean If there is an outbreak, the vaccine would prevent any spread.

Polio was previously detected in wastewater collected in samples in Rockland, Orange and Sullivan counties and in New York City.

The strains recovered in the wastewater in the previous three counties and NYC were all genetically linked to the state’s sole identified polio case — a Rockland County resident.

During a press conference Friday, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman stressed there is no polio case in the county.

“I don’t want to alarm anybody, there are no cases of polio that has been discovered here in this region or in Nassau County,” Blakeman said. “Nobody should panic, there is no crisis right now, there is no active case of polio in Nassau County.”

The polio strands were detected during routine wastewater testing for various viruses, including coronavirus. The tests have been routine for the last two years because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“They’ve been key because what they allow us to do is make determinations as to whether there is a spiking before people actually get the symptoms and report it to their doctors, so it saves us days in which we can prepare,” Blakeman said.

A trace of poliovirus turned up that would have come from the North Shore region that includes Manhasset, Port Washington, Roslyn and Glenwood Landing.

The sample was taken at the local wastewater facility and sent to the state.

It could mean one of two things — either someone recently received an oral vaccine that’s not available in the U.S. Traces of virus would turn up in wastewater.

“If we have subsequent tests that continue to be positive that will kind of give us an idea if it’s an ongoing situation or if it was just one test,” said acting Nassau County Health Commissioner Andrew Knect.

The other possibility is that someone there has the virus and it hasn’t been reported because they’re asymptomatic.

“About 74% of people who have it don’t have any symptoms,” Knecht said. “So, it’s possible that’s the case and people just need to be vigilant about what their vaccine status is. Because that’s the only way to protect yourself.”

The Department of Health is urging anyone who hasn’t done so to get the polio vaccine. Nassau County officials said they have been on calls with the state and the CDC to ensure that the county has enough vaccine so that anyone who hasn’t had one can get one right away.

All the impacted counties have low polio vaccinations among young children.

Among children who have received the polio immunizations before their second birthday:

-Rockland County has a polio vaccination rate of 60.34%

-Orange County has a polio vaccination rate of 58.68%

-Sullivan County has a polio vaccination rate of 62.33%

-Nassau County has a polio vaccination rate of 79.15%, compared to the statewide average of 78.96%,

RELATED | Polio: What to know about signs, symptoms of virus

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Polio declared a disaster emergency in New York after more poliovirus found

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Enlarge / Transmission electron micrograph of poliovirus type 1.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul declared a “state disaster emergency” Friday after poliovirus was detected in wastewater from a fourth county, indicating that the dangerous virus continues to spread, potentially in areas with abysmal vaccination rates.

Today’s emergency declaration aims to boost access to polio vaccines in the state, allowing more types of health care providers to authorize and administer polio vaccines. It also makes it a requirement for health care providers to report vaccination data to the state, allowing health officials to better identify vulnerable areas.

The emergency stretches back to July when officials reported paralytic polio in an unvaccinated adult in Rockland County whose symptoms began in June. As of September 9, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has detected poliovirus in 57 wastewater samples from four counties (Rockland, Orange, Sullivan, and newcomer Nassau) and New York City, with the earliest detection in April from Orange County.

Despite public awareness and vaccination campaigns, transmission appears to be going strong. Of those 57 positive samples, 27 were detected in August. And 50 of the 57 positive samples are directly genetically linked to the paralytic polio case in Rockland. Those 50 genetically linked samples include the newest county to detect poliovirus, Nassau, which had one positive wastewater sample last month.

Vaccination rates in the affected counties are troubling. Rockland County—which is notorious for generally low vaccination rates after battling a tenacious measles outbreak in 2019—has a polio vaccination rate of just 60 percent among children under the age of 2, who are recommended to have three polio vaccine doses. Orange and Sullivan counties have rates of 57 percent and 62 percent, respectively. Nassau has a better rate of 79 percent, which is the same as the statewide average.

But, those county-wide averages can mask pockets of even lower vaccination. New York state has zip code-level vaccination rate data for Rockland and Orange counties—and they’re worrying. In Orange, two zip codes have vaccination rates of 31 percent and 41 percent. Rockland has a zip code with a vaccination rate as low as 37 percent. The state health department says its goal is to get vaccination rates well over 90 percent.

“On polio, we simply cannot roll the dice,” New York State Health Commissioner Dr. Mary Bassett said in a statement on Friday. “If you or your child are unvaccinated or not up to date with vaccinations, the risk of paralytic disease is real. I urge New Yorkers to not accept any risk at all.”

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New York to ramp up polio vaccinations after virus found in wastewater

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New York Governor Kathy Hochul speaks during a news conference regarding new gun laws in New York, U.S., August 31, 2022. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

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NEW YORK, Sept 9 (Reuters) – New York Governor Kathy Hochul declared a disaster emergency on Friday in a bid to accelerate efforts to vaccinate residents against polio after the virus was detected in wastewater samples taken in four counties.

Hochul’s executive order followed the discovery of the virus last month in samples from Long Island’s Nassau County, bordering the New York City borough of Queens. Earlier this year the virus was found in samples from Rockland, Orange and Sullivan counties, all north of the city.

In July, the first confirmed case of polio in the United States in nearly a decade turned up in an adult in Rockland County, according to the state health department.

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“On polio, we simply cannot roll the dice,” State Health Commissioner Mary Bassett said in a statement. “If you or your child are unvaccinated or not up to date with vaccinations, the risk of paralytic disease is real.”

Polio can cause irreversible paralysis in some cases, but it can be prevented by a vaccine first made available in 1955. While there is no known cure, three injections of the vaccine provide nearly 100% immunity.

People of all ages are under threat, though the virus primarily affects children aged three and younger.

Officials urged unvaccinated adults and minors as young as two months old to get inoculated against the virus, and advised that vaccinated people receive a lifetime booster dose.

Hochul’s declaration authorizes paramedics, midwives and pharmacists to administer polio vaccinations, among other steps, to accelerate inoculation rates. The order also directs health-care providers to update the state with data on immunizations.

The state of emergency will stay in effect until Oct. 9. Health official set a goal of getting 90% of residents vaccinated.

The state health department warned people in New York City, Rockland, Orange, Sullivan and Nassau counties are at the highest risk.

Orange County has the lowest vaccination rate of the counties of concern with less than 59% being immunized, according to the state health department.

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Reporting by Tyler Clifford in New York and Rami Ayyub
Editing by Alistair Bell and David Gregorio

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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New York declares state of emergency over polio to boost vaccination rate

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New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Friday declared a state of emergency over polio to boost vaccination rates in the state amid further evidence that the virus is spreading in communities.

Poliovirus has now been detected in sewage samples from four counties in the New York metropolitan area as well as the city itself. The counties include Rockland, Orange, Sullivan and now Nassau.

The samples tested positive for types of poliovirus that can cause paralysis in humans, according to state health officials.

New York began wastewater surveillance after an unvaccinated adult caught polio in Rockland County in July and suffered from paralysis, the first known infection in the U.S. in nearly a decade.

The emergency declaration will expand the network of vaccine administrators to include pharmacists, midwives and EMS workers in an effort to boost the immunization rate in areas where it has slipped.

New York State Health Commissioner Dr. Mary Bassett called on people who are unvaccinated to get their shots as soon as possible. Individuals and families who are unsure of their vaccination status should contact a health-care provider, clinic or the county health department to make sure they are up to date on their shots.

“On polio, we simply cannot roll the dice,” Bassett said. “I urge New Yorkers to not accept any risk at all. Polio immunization is safe and effective – protecting nearly all people against disease who receive the recommended doses.”

The polio vaccination rate is dangerously low in some New York counties. The vaccination rate is 60% in Rockland, 58% in Orange, 62% in Sullivan, and 79% in Nassau. The statewide average for polio immunization is about 79%, according to the health department.

This is breaking news. Please check back for updates.

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More polio virus detected in upstate New York wastewater

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ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — State health officials in New York are warning of expanding “community spread” of the polio virus after it was found in wastewater samples from another upstate county.

The state Department of Health said Friday the polio virus was detected in four samples from Sullivan County, two each in July and August. Sullivan County is several dozen miles northwest of Rockland County, where officials on July 21 announced the first case of polio in the United States in nearly a decade. The unidentified young adult was unvaccinated.

The Sullivan County samples are genetically-linked to the case of paralytic polio in Rockland County.

State Health Commissioner Dr. Mary T. Bassett again urged residents to make sure they are immunized, saying “one New Yorker paralyzed by polio is already too many.”

“The polio in New York today is an imminent threat to all adults and children who are unvaccinated or not up to date with their polio immunizations,” Bassett said in a prepared release.

The virus has now been identified in wastewater samples in three contiguous counties north of New York City: Rockland, Orange and Sullivan. The polio virus also has been found in New York City sewage.

Officials have said that it is possible that hundreds of people in the state have gotten polio and don’t know it. Most people infected with polio have no symptoms but can still give the virus to others for days or weeks.

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.

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