New York declares polio emergency in state

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10th Sep, 2022. 07:16 pm
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The governor of New York has declared a polio emergency.
Sewage samples from New York City and four neighbouring counties tested positive for a poliovirus that can cause paralysis.
Only one case has been confirmed thus far, but it was the first in nearly a decade in the country.

The governor of New York has declared a polio emergency as evidence mounts that the virus is spreading throughout the state.

According to health officials, wastewater samples from New York City and four neighbouring counties tested positive for a poliovirus that can cause paralysis.

Although only one case has been confirmed thus far, it was the first in nearly a decade in the country.

Polio has largely eradicated in the United States thanks to vaccinations that began in 1955.

By 1979, the United States had been declared polio-free.

However, New York officials believe that vaccination rates are too low in some areas of the state. The emergency declaration on Friday is intended to boost flagging immunisation rates.

Polio has no cure, but it can be prevented with a vaccine. The virus, which primarily affects children, causes muscle weakness and paralysis, as well as permanent disability and death in the most severe cases.

The state health department of New York stated that it hopes to increase vaccination rates from the current state-wide average of about 79% to above 90%.

“On polio, we simply cannot roll the dice,” Health Commissioner Dr Mary Bassett said in a statement. “If you or your child are unvaccinated or not up to date with vaccinations, the risk of paralytic disease is real.”

She went on to say that “for every case of paralytic polio observed, there could be hundreds of other people infected.”

In both the United States and the United Kingdom, an inactivated polio vaccine is used as part of the routine childhood vaccination programme. According to CDC vaccination data, approximately 93% of toddlers in the United States have received at least three doses of the polio vaccine.

After an unvaccinated man in Rockland County, just north of New York City, contracted the virus in July – the first recorded case since 2013 – and suffered paralysis, state officials began monitoring wastewater for poliovirus.

The case was later genetically linked to paralytic polio discovered in an August wastewater sample from nearby Nassau County.

Wastewater samples from Orange County, Sullivan County, and New York City’s five boroughs have also tested positive for paralytic polio.

Governor Kathy Hochul issued the state’s third emergency declaration on Friday, following declarations in response to the coronavirus pandemic and monkeypox.

It allows EMTs, midwives, and pharmacists to join the network of providers who can administer the polio vaccine.

New York declares polio emergency in state

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