NEW YORK — New York well being officers on Thursday reported a polio case, the primary within the U.S. in practically a decade.
Officers didn’t instantly provide particulars on who the Rockland County resident was, whether or not the individual was vaccinated or their present situation.
State officers mentioned it appeared the individual had a vaccine-derived pressure of the virus, maybe from somebody who bought stay vaccine — out there in different international locations, however not the U.S. — and unfold it.
Polio was as soon as one of many nation’s most feared ailments, with annual outbreaks inflicting 1000’s of instances of paralysis — a lot of them in youngsters.
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Vaccines turned out there beginning in 1955, and nationwide vaccination marketing campaign minimize the annual variety of instances to lower than 100 within the Nineteen Sixties and fewer than 10 within the Seventies, in keeping with the CDC.
In 1979, polio was declared eradicated within the U.S., which means there was not routine unfold of the virus within the nation. Hardly ever, vacationers with polio have introduced infections into the U.S., with the final such case in 2013.
U.S. youngsters are nonetheless routinely vaccinated in opposition to polio. Federal officers advocate 4 doses: to be given at 2 months of age; 4 months; at 6 to 18 months; and at age 4 by way of 6 years. Some states require solely three doses.
In response to the CDC’s most up-to-date childhood vaccination knowledge, about 93% of 2-year-olds had acquired at the very least three doses of polio vaccine.
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Polio spreads principally from individual to individual or by way of contaminated water. It may well infect an individual’s spinal twine, inflicting paralysis and presumably everlasting incapacity and dying. The illness principally impacts youngsters.
Polio is endemic in Afghanistan and Pakistan, though quite a few international locations in Africa, the Center East and Asia have additionally reported instances lately.
Final month, well being officers in Britain warned dad and mom to verify their youngsters have been vaccinated after the polio virus was present in London sewage samples. No instances of paralysis have been reported.
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