US Reports First Polio Case Detected in New York; Unvaccinated Encouraged to Get Vaccine to Prevent Outbreak

A month after the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) reported detecting vaccine-derived poliovirus in London sewage samples, New York state detected the first human case of the virus. It is the first polio case in the United States in almost 10 years.

Health officials in New York announced that the case involves a person from Rockland County, prompting vaccination for the unvaccinated people and a plea to look for more cases. Polio was a once feared viral disease across the nation and the world, which was largely eradicated through vaccination campaigns.

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US Reports First Polio Case Detected in New York; Close Contacts Now Under Investigation

Vaccine-Derived Polio Case in New York

New York state health officials said sequencing determined that the polio case has the vaccine-derived poliovirus type, ABC News reported. The US has not administered the oral polio vaccine since 2000, which suggests that the virus might have come from somewhere outside the country.

A young adult from Rockland County started having symptoms last month and was diagnosed with polio. The person is no longer contagious but has suffered paralysis. The doctors are still unsure whether it will be permanent or not.

The oral polio vaccine contains a weakened form of poliovirus that can be excreted via stool and transmitted to people. Officials say that the polio-infected person is unvaccinated and is believed to have contracted the virus via someone who was inoculated with the oral vaccine. The person also does not have any international travel records, suggesting it was a local transmission.

Due to this, health officials are now investigating whether there are any close contacts of the patient that might have also contracted the disease or are at risk. In the meantime, there are no other suspected cases.

Jennifer Nuzzo, a Brown University pandemic researcher, told AP News that most Americans are vaccinated against polio and that this case should be a wake-up call to the unvaccinated persons. Vaccinated individuals have nothing to worry about, but unvaccinated adults and kids should get vaccinated to be protected from poliovirus.

Health officials have scheduled vaccinations in New York every Friday and Monday, encouraging unvaccinated people to get the shots to prevent an outbreak.

ALSO READ: Africa Once Again Battles Polio Outbreaks After Two Years of Declaring Free From Any of Its Types

About Vaccine-Derived Poliovirus

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), vaccine-derived poliovirus (VDPV) is a strain of weakened poliovirus that came from oral polio vaccine (OPV) and changed over time to behave like the wild or natural poliovirus. It can spread easily to unvaccinated humans who may come in contact with those infected people's stool or respiratory secretions.

It was the reason why many countries stopped giving OPV routine immunization. The US has been giving inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) since 2000 to protect Americans from all types of wild poliovirus transmission.

VDPVs can cause disease outbreaks in countries where polio vaccination coverage is low. But with the high IPV rate in the US, health officials believe that it is unlikely that any VDVP would become widespread. They remind people to vaccinate against polio to protect them from naturally-occurring polioviruses and VDVPs.