Polio found in sewage water, fear of local circulation: NY officials
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New York health officials issue a release declaring they have discovered poliovirus in sewage samples and saying the virus might have been circulated locally.
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A pop-up vaccination clinic was opened in Rockland County, N.Y., where a polio case was detected. (Photo: Victor J. Blue/ The New York Times)
A release has been issued on Friday by New York health officials announcing that the poliovirus has been detected in sewage samples, and they were sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to be analyzed amid a doubt that the virus might have been circulated locally.
“The New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) and the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (NYCDOHMH) today updated New Yorkers on the detection of poliovirus (the virus that causes paralytic polio) in sewage, suggesting likely local circulation of the virus. Polio can lead to permanent paralysis of the arms and legs and even death in some cases,” the release said.
The officials noted that the discovery of poliovirus is alarming and promised to work with local and federal partners to avoid its spread.
The release insisted that New York residents get a polio vaccine, especially those who have not been vaccinated before.
The NYSDOH and NYCDOHMH will continue to test wastewater with the help of the CDC and promote prevention processes to ensure that New Yorkers are effectively immunized, the release added.
Last week, an unvaccinated adult in Rockland County who suffered paralysis tested positive for the virus.
Based on previous polio outbreaks, “New Yorkers should know that for every one case of paralytic polio observed, there may be hundreds of other people infected,” Dr. Mary T. Bassett, New York's health commissioner said in a statement.
The polio patient is the first individual known to be infected in the US in almost a decade. Wastewater samples taken in the past two months in Orange County were found to contain the virus.
The United States had not seen any polio cases since 1979, more than two decades after the availability of vaccines.
