Two days ago, the New York State Department of Health announced the detection of a case of polio, to be the first known infection of the disease in the country in at least 10 years.
According to state officials, “it appears that the person is infected with a virus strain derived from the vaccine, possibly from someone who received the live vaccine available in several other countries.”
After declaring the eradication of polio in the United States in 1979 and not spreading it routinely in the country, today the case of polio has returned to concern those concerned, especially since the case that was detected is highly contagious. Is this return a cause for concern? What does the return of this virus and infection from a person who received the vaccine mean?
The head of the Bacterial Disease Research Center at the American University of Pediatrics, Professor Ghassan Debebo, explains to “Al-Nahar” that this observed case is alarming because it is not the first of its kind, and a case was previously recorded in occupied Palestine for a person who did not receive the polio vaccine and was infected with the polio vaccine virus.
In both cases, the virus they contracted is a modified virus used in the oral polio vaccine. Although this vaccine provides immunity to children, it is a live virus, and therefore if a person has weak immunity, the virus can multiply in the body for a long time and this leads to the virus returning to it as it becomes similar to the natural virus of polio before it is modified.
This is what happened with the infected person in America, and it was found that he did not receive paralysis vaccines, regardless of the reasons for abstaining. After being exposed to the virus, he contracted paralysis caused by the vaccine virus. This case may restore the importance of reminding and emphasizing that children are vaccinated with the necessary vaccines at the required time and without delay.
Debebo points out that “in Lebanon, there are two systems of vaccines, one in the public sector and another in the private sector. In the public sector, we usually give the first dose of the polio vaccine and it is a dead vaccine that is given through the injection at the age of two months, while the other doses are through the oral vaccine and returns to The reason for the Ministry’s adoption of this mechanism is to prevent any cases of paralysis due to the oral vaccine in children who receive this vaccine.
Therefore, the first dose of the dead virus vaccine through the injection is enough to prevent paralysis, and the oral vaccine through the other four doses becomes very safe. But if one of the children suffers from weak immunity and receives the oral paralysis vaccine and the virus multiplies in his body for a long time, he can transmit the infection to others, especially to unvaccinated children, and may cause him in a rare case of paralysis, as happened with the case in New York.
In the private sector, the oral vaccine is not used, and most doctors resort to the polio vaccine, which is given through the injection, which does not pose any danger to children. But the advantage of the oral vaccine is that it secures stronger immunity in the digestive system membrane, especially since this virus is spread through the mouth and the digestive system, while the paralysis vaccine through the injection does not provide this immunity. In addition, to ensure adequate protection, all children in the private and public sectors must be vaccinated, and the vaccination rate should be more than 95 percent.
Regarding the case of New York, it is most likely that the person was outside America and contracted the virus in a country that still uses the oral polio vaccine, or from a person who was vaccinated abroad and came to America and transmitted the infection. In both cases, the infection is from a person who received the oral vaccine. Usually these cases are so limited that we do not see an epidemic or spread of cases unless there is a large group of unvaccinated people.
Unfortunately, according to what Debepo said, “This is our situation in Lebanon. A large number of children between 15-20 percent do not receive their vaccinations as they should, which raises fears of the virus spreading if it reaches Lebanon. The reason is due to several factors, including the lack of The ability to reach care centers, electricity cuts, cost and financial inability, poverty, ignorance and recklessness, all of which are reasons that prevent children from not receiving the necessary vaccinations at the required time.”
Debepo talks about the emergence of individual cases from time to time in various countries, and the case in New York has aroused greater interest and uproar due to the disappearance of the virus in America for more than ten years. However, the hope remains that these cases will not spread in societies that have low levels of vaccination.”