9 hours ago
Sam Cabral, BBC News, Washington, USA
image provided, Getty Images
New York state health officials announced on the 21st that an adult young man was infected with polio. It is the first time in regarding 10 years that an American inhabitant has been confirmed infected.
According to officials, the patient is a resident of Rockland County, Tong County. I have poliovirus-induced paralysis. The fear of infecting others is gone.
The patient is said to have not been vaccinated once morest polio. Authorities suspect that the cause was contact with a vaccinated person containing a live attenuated virus.
Poliovirus is highly infectious. No infection has been confirmed in the United States since 2013.
Declaration of eradication in 1979 in the United States
Polio was once feared throughout the United States, but was almost eradicated by a national vaccination campaign that began in 1955.
The annual number of patients was less than 100 in the 1960s, but dropped sharply to less than 10 in the 1970s. In 1979, US officials declared that there was no polio in the country.
In the decades since then, only individual cases that appear to have been brought in by foreign tourists have been found.
Poliovirus often infects children. It causes weakness and paralysis, and in the most severe cases, it has permanent sequelae and can be fatal.
Americans are usually vaccinated once morest polio three to four times from the age of two months. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), regarding 93% of infants receive at least three doses.
There is also a risk of infection from attenuated viruses
In the United States and other countries, vaccinations using inactivated viruses are carried out, while in some countries, vaccines using live attenuated viruses are orally administered.
In rare cases, the attenuated virus may mutate and cause a new epidemic.
The last reported polio case in the United States was a 7-month-old child who emigrated from India to Texas in 2013. Like this patient, he was infected with a virus strain derived from the vaccine.
Following news that a new polio patient was found, New York state officials are planning vaccinations at clinics in the state on the 22nd and 25th.
Polio is endemic in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Recently, it has been reported in other parts of the world.
British health officials warned last month that they had detected poliovirus in London’s sewage. I called on parents to vaccinate their children.
