New York detects case of vaccine-derived polio
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Health officials on Thursday reported the detection of a case of vaccine-derived polio in a resident of Rockland County, New York, which is north of New York City.
The officials advised the medical community to be on alert for more cases.
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According to the state health department, testing done at a state lab and confirmed by the CDC showed that the virus is a vaccine strain Sabin type 2, which indicates that transmission occurred from someone who received an oral polio vaccine.
Different from wild polio, which has been nearly eradicated globally, cases of vaccine-derived poliovirus occur when a live but weakened strain of virus that is included in vaccines spreads between people. Like wild polio, vaccine-derived poliovirus can cause paralysis.
According to the state health department, it is the first case of vaccine-derived polio recorded in the United States since 2013. There has not been a case of wild polio in the U.S. since 1979, according to the CDC.
The U.S. has used only inactivated polio vaccines since 2000.
The New York case was reported less than a month after British health officials announced that routine wastewater surveillance detected the spread of vaccine-derived poliovirus in London.
Polio vaccination is required of all New York schoolchildren, but the state health department urged anyone in Rockland County who is unvaccinated to get vaccinated, and anyone at risk for exposure to get a booster shot. Officials did not provide information about the person who was infected.
"Vaccines have protected our health against old and new viruses for decades," New York City Health Commissioner Ashwin Vasan, MD, PhD, said in a press release. "The fact is, the urgency of safe and effective vaccines has always been here, and we need New Yorkers to protect themselves against completely preventable viruses like polio."
Rockland County is hosting a polio vaccination clinic beginning on Friday. More information can be found here.
References:
CDC. Pink Book – Poliomyelitis. https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/pinkbook/polio.html. Accessed July 21, 2022.
New York State Department of Health and Rockland County Department of Health alert the public to a case of polio in the county. https://health.ny.gov/press/releases/2022/2022-07-21_polio_rockland_county.htm. Published July 21, 2022. Accessed July 21, 2022.
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