POLIO RETURNSTraces of the Polio Virus found in Several New York State Counties

Published 7 October 2022

Polio was declared eradicated in the United States in 1979. In the summer, the first case of polio was discovered in New York, and an examination of the wastewater in several NY counties found traces of the virus which were genetically related to the virus which infected the polio patient in the summer.

In 1921, FDR contracted poliomyelitis at 39 years old, becoming seriously ill before eventually recovering, though he remained paralyze from the waist down for the rest of his life. He was by no means unique — the early twentieth century saw thousands upon thousands of Americans infected with the virus.

The disease left an average of 35,000 Americans disabled annually throughout the 1940s. In just 1952 alone, 60,000 American children were infected; thousands were left paralyzed and more than 3,000 died. Late summer was commonly known as “polio season” back then.

As the years went on, the United States began vaccinating for this disease widely, ridding the country of wild cases by 1979. In the last fifty years, polio has increasingly come to feel for many in the U.S. like a thing of the past and a problem only for far away countries where it is endemic.

Pandora Reportnotes that today, however, New York is grappling with its first polio case since 1990. In July this year, a young man reported to an ER in a New York City suburb with weakness in his lower legs, having experienced a fever, stiff neck, and other symptoms for several days prior. This person is unvaccinated for polio, and it is believed his samples appear related to those from countries that use oral polio vaccine.

Pandora Reportcontinues:

One case of vaccine-derived polio would be shocking enough in the US today, it gets worse. Wastewater surveillance in New York State has detected the virus in Rockland County (where the case was diagnosed this summer), Orange and Sullivan Counties, and, as of late last month, Nassau County on Long Island. It has also been detected in New York City itself. The AP explains of the detection in Nassau County that “The sample is genetically linked to the polio case from Rockland and provides further evidence of expanding community spread, state health officials said.”

“On polio, we simply cannot roll the dice,” state Health Commissioner Dr. Mary T. Bassett said in a prepared statement. “If you or your child are unvaccinated or not up to date with vaccinations, the risk of paralytic disease is real. I urge New Yorkers to not accept any risk at all.”