News - state detects polio case, first in the U.S. since 2013
News - N.Y. state detects polio case, first in the U.S. since 2013
New York State reported Thursday that it has detected a case of vaccine-derived polio in an unvaccinated adult in Rockland County, north of New York City, the first such case in the United States since 2013.
The unidentified individual developed paralysis, said Beth Cefalu, Rockland County’s director of strategic communications. Polio paralysis is irreversible.
The area where the case was detected was the epicenter of a large measles outbreak in 2018-2019 that was fueled by low vaccination rates among communities of Hasidic Jews. The outbreak went on for so long that the country almost lost its measles-free status. The memory of that episode is provoking concern that the area might be ripe for additional vaccine-derived polio cases to occur.
“I think it’s concerning because … it can spread,” said Walter Orenstein, a polio expert at Emory University. “If there are unvaccinated communities, it can cause a polio outbreak.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a statement that while the risk is low for people who are vaccinated, there is risk for those who have not had the recommended three doses of injectable polio vaccine.
“Most of the U.S. population has protection against polio because they were vaccinated during childhood, but in some communities with low vaccine coverage, there are unvaccinated people at risk,” the statement said. “Polio and its neurologic effects cannot be cured, but can be prevented through vaccination.”
The New York State department of health said in a statement that the person was infected with a type 2 vaccine-derived poliovirus, which would have come from oral polio vaccine used in a number of countries, but not the United States. The U.S. stopped using oral polio vaccine in 2000.
Cefalu told STAT the case is still being investigated, but it is believed the individual had not recently traveled outside the country to a place where type 2 vaccine-derived polio viruses are spreading. If that is the case, that would indicate someone else inadvertently imported the virus, suggesting there may be additional undetected transmission. Only a small portion of people infected with polioviruses will go on to be paralyzed.
“The inactivated polio vaccine we have is very effective and very safe and could have prevented this,” he said. “We need to restore our confidence in vaccines.”
Post a Comment for "News - state detects polio case, first in the U.S. since 2013"