The polio virus was discovered in wastewater samples in New York City, showing the once-eradicated and potentially paralyzing disease is circulating farther than places in Rockland and Orange counties where it had already been found, state and New York City health officials announced on Friday.
The announcement gave no details about where in New York City the virus had surfaced and the date or dates of the sewage samples in which it was found. Health officials started testing past and current wastewater samples for polio traces after a Rockland County man suffered paralysis and was diagnosed with polio, the first US case of the disease in years.
As of Aug. 4, the state Department of Health had said the polio virus had turned up in 11 sewage samples taken in Orange and Rockland counties in June and July. In Friday’s announcement, officials said they now had positive results for one or both of those counties since May, signifying the disease had been circulating among unvaccinated people earlier than previously known.
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Rockland County officials announced on July 21 that a young adult had been diagnosed with polio. The person was no longer contagious, officials said, but had suffered paralysis as a result of the illness.
The polio patient had never been vaccinated against the virus, officials said.
The polio case – the first apparently transmitted within the US since 1979 – came from a person who had taken an oral polio vaccine in a different country. A rare complication of the live vaccine, which has not been given in the US in more than two decades, allowed the person to develop a mild case of the virus and shed it.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has moved a small team into offices at the Rockland County’s health complex in Pomona.
“It’s a natural course of events,” said Rockland County Executive Ed Day. A CDC field office was also set up during the 2018-2019 measles outbreak, when Rockland was an epicenter and saw more than 300 cases.
Meanwhile, local outreach for vaccinations continue. Rockland County has partnered with Good Samaritan Hospital, Montefiore Nyack, RefuahHealth and Serenity Health to produce 5,000 copies of an information flyer in four languages: English, Spanish, Haitian Creole and Yiddish.
Agencies with connections to the Orthodox Jewish and immigrant communities have been key, Day said.
“Rockland County is one of the most diverse in New York State,” Day said. “Our Department of Health has spent the last few weeks working closely with community partners to develop messaging that’s effective and impactful to all of our residents. Reaching all corners of Rockland with the simple message that polio is dangerous and only preventable by immunization is critical. ”
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George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism