Young Man From New York Without Polio Vaccine Is America's First Polio Patient In 10 Years, Suffers From Poliovirus Strain Also Found in London and Jerusalem Wastewater

Last month, the New York Department of Health reported the first polio case in the US in almost 10 years. The testing revealed that the 20-year-old Jewish man from Rockland County, New York, is infected with the same strain detected in Jerusalem and London a few months ago.

Polio expert Dr. Adam Ratner told MailOnline that the man caught the type 2 vaccine-derived poliovirus (VDPV), which suggests that there may be multiple transmission chains of the virus circulating around the world. Health officials encouraged the unvaccinated people to get the polio vaccine to prevent infection.

Man Without Polio Vaccine Left Paralyzed by Poliovirus

America's first polio patient in 10 years is a young Jewish man who never got the three-dose vaccine. He was discharged from the hospital to a house he shares with his wife and parents. However, the poliovirus left him paralyzed, which caused him difficulties in walking again.

Health officials have yet to discover how the patient caught the virus as the man has not even traveled overseas recently, which suggests that he might have gotten the virus from another unvaccinated person.

The Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) revealed that the patient from New York had tested positive for the same strain identified in other cities in other countries this year.

Experts detected an oral poliovirus vaccine strain in London and Jerusalem that can be passed on to others when recipients excrete it, although it might happen in rare cases. The virus could mutate to become more dangerous from its ancestral strains after several infections.

GPEI experts said that more investigation is underway to determine where the virus could have also spread. It is vital that all countries strengthen surveillance to rapidly detect new virus importation so that a rapid response would be given.

America's First Polio Patient Left Paralyzed From the Same Strain Found in London and Jerusalem

(Photo : Joe Kohen/Getty Images for Rotary International)
The New York Stock Exchange is illuminated with Rotary International's pledge to End Polio Now, part of the humanitarian service organization's worldwide public awareness campaign supporting the Global Polio Eradication Initiative at the New York Stock Exchange on February 23, 2011 in New York City.

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There Could Be A Chain of VDPV Infection Around the World

Ratner, the director of pediatric infectious diseases at NYU Langone's Hassenfel Children's Hospital, warns that there could be one chain where infection happened, although the US has unlikely the VDPV around because the country does not use the oral polio vaccine.

Neither London nor Jerusalem have a confirmed polio patient because of the strain of poliovirus and the US is yet to detect a second case. However, all three cities have detected the type 2 VDPV in their wastewater in the last few months, which means the virus is spreading within the community.

New York health officials said they detected the poliovirus strain in Rockland County in June, a month before the first polio patient was reported. Ratner added that this might suggest that more people are exposed to polio and there may be some number of unvaccinated individuals who came into contact with the virus but did not develop into paralytic polio.

Science Times previously reported that the VDPV strain is derived from the weakened poliovirus that came from the oral polio vaccine (OPV) that mutated and started behaving like a wild or natural poliovirus that is highly infectious and dangerous.