America’s first case of polio in nearly a decade has been detected in Upstate New York, health chiefs revealed Thursday.
The patient—who has not been named—was diagnosed in Rockland County after visiting medics when they became unwell.
Health officials said the individual is believed to have been infected outside of the United States, but did not say where.
They have not revealed their age, gender, travel history, vaccination status or what symptoms they suffered.
It is the first case of polio to be spotted in the United States since 2013.
Children in the US are routinely offered the polio vaccine to protect against the debilitating disease which leads to paralysis in about one in 100 cases. Of people who are paralyzed, up to one in ten die from the disease.
But in recent years the population immunity level has fallen below the threshold needed to prevent an outbreak in the country.
The case has been detected in Rockland County, Upstate New York. Officials believe the patient was infected abroad
Announcing the case today, New York’s Department of Health told health care providers to remain on the look out for additional cases.
They also urged anyone who has not been vaccinated against the disease or not completed their vaccination course to get the jabs, because these individuals are most at risk from severe disease.
Health Commissioner Dr Mary Bassett said: ‘Based on what we know about this case, and polio in general, the Department of Health strongly recommends that unvaccinated individuals get vaccinated or boosted with FDA-approved IPV polio vaccine as soon as possible.
‘The polio vaccine is safe and effective, protecting against this potentially debilitating disease, and it has been part of the backbone of required, routine childhood immunizations recommended by health officials and public health agencies nationwide.’
Testing revealed the patient was infected with a strain of polio from someone who had received the oral polio vaccine. This has not been used in the US since 2000, which health officials said suggested they were infected outside the country.
Polio is a potentially disabling and life-threatening disease, which in serious cases can spread to the spinal cord triggering paralysis and even death.
It is highly contagious and spreads after someone touches a surface contaminated with an infected person’s feces and then their own mouth.
About one in four people who catch the virus develop flu-like symptoms including a sore throat, fever, tiredness and stomach pain.
One in 25 will go on to suffer meningitis — when the spinal cord is infected — and later paralysis. Of these, up to one in ten die from the infection.
Urging people to get vaccinated, 72-year-old Rockland County Executive Ed Day said: ‘Many of you may be too young to remember polio, but when I was growing up, this disease struck fear into families including my own.
‘The fact that it is still around decades after the vaccine was created shows you just how relentless it is.
‘Do the right thin for your child and the greater good of your community and have your child vaccinated now.’
Health chiefs said a vaccination clinic would open in Pomona, Rockland County, from 10am to noon tomorrow, and on Monday from 1pm to 4pm.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that all children should get the polio vaccine.
It is given as four shots in the leg or arm, with the first given at two months old, the second at four months, the third between six and 18 months and the final dose between four and six years old.
The vaccine is highly effective, with 99 percent of children receiving life-long protection against the disease.
In the late 1940s, polio outbreaks struck fear into the heart of the United States because of the disease’s terrible effects.
Parents were left afraid to let their children play outside — particularly in summer when the virus appeared to be more common —, public health officials would impose quarantines on homes and even whole towns where it was spotted.
Last month, a Polio case was detected in the UK, putting many of high alert that America’s 93 percent vaccination coverage was not high enough to deal with a potential outbreak of the virus.
The virus has been nearly eradicated across much of the world after a strong vaccination campaign starting in the 1950s. It remains endemic to Pakistan and Afghanistan, though.
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