blaskarna: A First Case Of Polio Since 2013 In USA, Has Been Detected In New York State

The New York State Health Department reported Thursday that it had seen its first polio cases in the United States since 2013. The state reported that it had seen one polio infection in 2013 and is encouraging people to make sure they are being vaccinated against the virus. The first polio patient in the United States in almost a decade is an adult from upstate New York who refused a vaccine for polio, health leaders revealed Thursday. The first U.S. polio case in almost a decade Polio has been confirmed in an unvaccinated adult in Rockland County, N.Y., local and state health officials announced Thursday. Tests indicate that the case of polio in Rockland County could have originated from outside of the country, New York State Department of Health said in a statement. [Sources: 1, 5, 6, 8]

A case of polio was confirmed in a resident of Rockland County, which is about 36 miles north of New York City, according to state and county health departments, making it the first case there since 2013. Tests conducted by a lab at the state health department, confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, showed that a Rockland County resident had received the oral polio vaccine, which is no longer administered in the United States. Officials did not immediately provide details about who was ill with polio, if that person was vaccinated, or his current status. State officials said the person appeared to have had a vaccine-derived strain of polio, possibly from someone who had received the live vaccine - available in other countries, but not the United States - and passed it along. [Sources: 2, 3]

The person is not considered infectious anymore, but investigators are trying to understand how the polio was contracted and if anyone else was exposed. In that case, genetic sequencing done at Wadsworth Center - the New York State Public Health Laboratory - and confirmed by the CDC showed the kind of polio virus that indicates transmission by someone who received a vaccine, according to a Thursday alert. Officials confirmed the case showed a revertant type of polio virus, Sabin 2, which indicates that it probably came through transmission from someone who received the older oral polio vaccine, which has not been administered in the U.S. since 2000. [Sources: 0, 5, 6]

The CDC said it is possible that polio originated outside of the U.S., as sequencing showed that a polio case in New York state was probably spread by an individual who received oral polio vaccine that has not been administered in the United States since 2000. This case suggests polio may have originated from the place that administered the vaccine, outside of the United States, New York state and the Rockland County alert said. Officials said that identification suggests that this case originated outside of the U.S., where oral vaccine is still administered, but that they are investigating the source of this specific case. [Sources: 4, 5, 7]

##### Sources #####

[0]: https://apnews.com/article/polio-case-new-york-4c1e2512145a1d897982f27507259d83

[1]: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/polio-case-found-new-york-city-suburb-state-agency-says-2022-07-21/

[2]: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/polio-new-york-state-in-nearly-a-decade/

[3]: https://www.wliw.org/radio/news/the-first-u-s-case-of-polio-since-2013-has-been-detected-in-new-york/

[4]: https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/21/health/new-york-polio/index.html

[5]: https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/07/21/polio-rockland-county-unvaccinated/

[6]: https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2022/07/21/New-York-first-polio-case-2013/7831658437806/

[7]: https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2022/07/21/first-us-polio-case-in-nearly-a-decade-reported-in-new-york/

[8]: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-11036785/First-polio-case-2013-detected-upstate-New-York-resident.html