The discovery of the disease from sewage samples collected in June means the virus was present in the community before the Rockland County adult’s diagnosis was made public on July 21. read more The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in an emailed statement that the presence of the virus in the wastewater suggests there may be more people in the community shedding the virus in their feces. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register However, the CDC added that no new cases have been identified and that it is not yet clear whether the virus is actively spreading in New York or elsewhere in the United States. Laboratory tests also confirmed that the case strain is genetically related to a strain found in Israel, although that does not mean the patient had traveled to Israel, officials added. The CDC said genetic sequencing also linked it to samples of the highly contagious and life-threatening virus in the United Kingdom. The patient had started showing symptoms in June, when local officials asked doctors to be on the lookout for cases, according to the New York Times. “Given how quickly polio can spread, now is the time for every adult, parent and guardian to get themselves and their children vaccinated as soon as possible,” said State Health Commissioner Dr. Mary Bassett. There is no cure for polio, which can cause irreversible paralysis in some cases, but it can be prevented with a vaccine that became available in 1955. New York City officials said they are opening vaccine clinics to help unvaccinated residents get shots. Inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) is the only polio vaccine given in the United States since 2000, according to the CDC. It is given by injection in the leg or arm, depending on the age of the patient. Polio is often asymptomatic and people can spread the virus even when they don’t look sick. However, it can cause mild flu-like symptoms that can take up to 30 days to appear, officials said. It can strike at any age, but the majority of those affected are children aged three and under. Representatives from the New York City health department could not immediately be reached for further details on the sewage findings. The polio vaccine developed by Dr. Jonas Salk in the 1950s was heralded as a scientific breakthrough in combating the global scourge, which has now been largely eradicated nationally. The United States has not seen a case of polio develop in the country since 1979, although cases from a traveler and an oral vaccine were found in 1993 and 2013. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Report by Susan Heavey. Edited by Aurora Ellis Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
