After nearly a decade with no reported polio cases in the U.S., a resident of Rockland County, New York has tested positive for the viral disease, state and county health officials announced [July 21].
The infected individual caught a strain of poliovirus known as “revertant polio Sabin type 2 virus,” tests performed by the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) revealed. Unlike wild polioviruses, this type of virus derives from the live oral polio vaccine, which has not been administered in the U.S. since 2000.
The U.S. and many other countries discontinued use of the oral vaccine because the shot contains live, but weakened, polioviruses that can be shed in the stool of vaccinated people, according to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative(opens in new tab) (GPEI). In rare instances, these weakened viruses have evolved to behave more like wild, naturally-occurring polioviruses that can cause illness in people who aren’t fully vaccinated. Due to this risk, the U.S. now only administers “inactivated” polio vaccines.
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“Based on what we know about this case, and polio in general, the Department of Health strongly recommends that unvaccinated individuals get vaccinated or boosted with the FDA-approved IPV polio vaccine as soon as possible,” State Health Commissioner Dr. Mary T. Bassett said in the statement.
“The polio vaccine is safe and effective, protecting against this potentially debilitating disease, and it has been part of the backbone of required, routine childhood immunizations recommended by health officials and public health agencies nationwide,” Bassett said.
