Thu, 11 Aug 22 10:15:43 +0000

Polio 'quiet' spread in New York prompts CDC to consider additional vaccinations for some people

(CNN)Confirmed polio cases in New York last month are ``just the tip of the iceberg'' and a telltale sign of community There must be hundreds of cases circulating in the United States," a senior U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention official told CNN Wednesday.

The case was found in Rockland County, where polio vaccination coverage is surprisingly low. Dr. Jose Romero, director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, noted that the majority of polio patients have no symptoms and can unknowingly spread the virus.

"There are many people in the community who have poliovirus. They are shedding the virus," he said. “Spread is always a possibility because spread is quiet.”

Last week, the CDC Disease Investigation Team moved from agency headquarters in Atlanta to Rockland County. They are "very nervous" that polio is rapidly spiraling out of control and could be a crisis in our hands, said a community health leader who met with the team. .

"They -- are the opposite of being cautiously optimistic." Another community leader, a vaccine education expert who also met with the Rockland County CDC team, said: said like this. Both leaders requested anonymity as they are not authorized to speak publicly.

Polio can cause incurable paralysis and death, but vaccination has protected most people in the United States. There is also

Unimmunized populations are vulnerable, with polio immunization rates in Rockland County and neighboring Orange County just north of New York City at 60%. vs.93% } nationwide. Vaccinated adultsmay be vulnerable if they have weakened immune systemsandchildren who are to receive four doses of polio vaccineare not considered fully vaccinated until they are at least 4 years old. Year.

Romero said the CDC is considering a range of options to protect people from polio, among them UK health officials currently LondonThis includes providing vaccine boosters to children in the community, as we are doing in .

"We are looking at all aspects of how to address this. At this time, there is no definitive answer," he said. said.

The 'Silent Killer'

Rockland County polio cases are the first confirmed cases in the United States in nearly a decade.

The virus has also been detected in the sewers of Rockland County and adjacent Orange County. Positive samples were genetically linked to individual cases, but no other cases have been reported in the United States.

According to the CDC, approximately 3 in 4 people infected with polio A person has no symptoms,but can still spread the virus to others. Most of the rest have symptoms such as sore throats and headaches that can go unnoticed or be confused with other illnesses.He is a relatively minority of about 1 in 200 infected people. only paralyzed. Some paralyzed people die because they can't breathe.

Polio outbreaks in the late 1940s disabled an average of more than 35,000 people in the United States each year. A vaccination campaign was launched in 1955, and cases plummeted rapidly. According to the CDC, childhood polio immunizations given four doses between the ages of 2 months and her age 6 are now at least 99% effective.

However, in recent decades,,some small groups have not vaccinated their children against the virus. One of them is within New York's ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, which includes Rockland County.

Many of Rockland County's remaining religious Jewish communities have rallied around efforts to educate "heretics" who refuse to be vaccinated, community health leaders said.

"This is a silent killer, like carbon monoxide, and you never know when it will strike," she said.

"Press releases don't work." said to be enthusiastic. She does not use the internet and instead tends to get a lot of information from her messaging platform her WhatsApp and community newspapers.

This week, Rockland County and local health care providers announced in English and Yiddish, "There is a polio epidemic in Rockland County." , in a meeting with the CDC team, "talked about the need for a message that resonates, but a press release can't cut it short."

Rockland County's largest health care provider Dr. Mary Leahy, CEO of Bon Secours Charity Health System, attended a conference with the CDC to help people who have not had their children vaccinated against polio understand the severity of polio: says. "I go back to my grandparents and great-grandparents who lived through the polio era in the 1940s and her 1950s."

This made sense to Romero.

I grew up in Mexico. "I have seen this disease, its complications," he said. said he was unaware of the "devastating" effects of polio's "lifelong paralysis". People have lost their fear of this disease, if they will.”