Poliovirus detected in NYC sewage; health officials call for vaccination

Enlarge / Transmission electron micrograph of type 1 poliovirus. Getty | BSIP

Health officials in New York are stepping up efforts to increase polio vaccination rates among children in the region as more polioviruses have surfaced in water samples worn.

On Friday, August 12, New York State and New York City health officials announced that poliovirus was first detected in New York City wastewater. , suggesting local circulation of the virus.

The discovery follows similar detections in sewage sampling in neighboring Rockland and Orange counties in May, June and July. On July 21, Rockland County health officials reported a case of paralytic polio in a young, unvaccinated male resident who had not recently traveled outside the country. The man's symptoms began in June.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that only one in 200 people infected with poliovirus develop paralysis. Thus, the identification of the paralytic case last month indicates that hundreds of others could also have been infected. And, over time since the case began, the cumulative total of cases can run into the thousands.

"For every case of paralytic polio identified, hundreds more may go undetected," New York State Health Commissioner Mary Bassett said in a statement. "The detection of poliovirus in sewage samples in New York is alarming, but not surprising." New York City, state and CDC officials are "urgently responding" and "aggressively assessing the spread," she added.

Circulating poliovirus is only a threat to those who are not vaccinated. Fortunately, most Americans are vaccinated and therefore not at risk. The four-dose inactivated polio vaccine is part of routine immunization schedules in the United States, and most children receive the first three doses at 18 months. The fourth dose is given between 4 and 6 years of age. However, not all children are vaccinated, and some communities have low vaccination rates, including New York and surrounding suburbs.

risk and chance

In New York, 78.96% of children statewide received the first three doses by age 2. But in Rockland County, the vaccination rate for children under 2 is only 60%. And in Orange County, it's just under 59% among children under 2 years old. New York's vaccination rate is higher, but officials say it's been dropping since 2019. Currently, only 86% of New York City's children under age 5 are fully vaccinated, which means 14% are vulnerable to this. dangerous disease.

"The risk to New Yorkers is real, but the defense is so simple: Get your polio shot," New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan said in a statement. “With polio circulating in our communities, there is simply nothing more essential than vaccinating our children to protect them from this virus, and if you are an unvaccinated or incompletely vaccinated adult, please choose now to have yourself vaccinate. Polio is entirely preventable and its reappearance should be a call to action for all of us."

New York officials aren't the only ones scrambling to deal with a resurgence of poliovirus. British officials announced this week that they had detected 116 poliovirus isolates in 19 sewage samples from at least eight London boroughs since February. Authorities are now working to vaccinate all children aged 1-9 in London.

"In London, it's just lucky that no one was paralyzed by these viruses that were caught", David Salisbury, WHO Global Commission for Polio Certification...