First U.S. Polio Case In Nearly A Decade Reported In New York

It is the first case of the disease in the US in a decade.

According to the New York State Department of Health, the case was reported in Rockland County.

The New York case is thought to have been transmitted from someone who received an oral vaccine, which has not been given in the U.S. since 2000.

If you are part of a high-risk group, healthcare professionals are asked to be vigilant and keep an eye out for additional cases, and to encourage you to get a vaccine.

Rockland County Executive Ed Day said in a statement that when he was a child he was scared of the disease.

Surprising Fact

Measles was a vaccine-preventable disease that occurred in Rockland Country.

Key Background

According to the Centers for Disease Control, there were more than 15,000 cases of paralysis every year due to the disease. In 1955, a vaccine slashed infections in half. There is no year-round transmission of the virus that causes the disease because of widespread vaccine. Since 1979 there have been no known cases of the disease in the United States.

The United Nations and the World Health Organization warned last week that the decline in childhood vaccinations was the result of disruptions from the Covid-19 Pandemic. 23 million children missed out on vaccinations last year. There is a risk of a resurgence of vaccine-preventable diseases if children are not immunized. The British government encouraged people to make sure their immunizations are up-to-date after traces of the vaccine were found in London wastewater. In 2003 the U.K. became the first country in the world to be free of the disease.