Dubai, United Arab Emirates (CNN) — A person from Rockland County, New York, has been diagnosed with polio, the first case identified in the United States in nearly a decade.
Dr. Patricia Schnabel-Robert, the county health commissioner, said Thursday that the unvaccinated young adult began experiencing weakness and paralysis regarding a month ago.
This case comes nearly a month following the UK’s Health Security Agency warned that polio virus had been detected in London wastewater samples.
This indicates its spread among individuals in north and east London, although no cases have been identified there.
It is reported that this disease is caused by the polio virus.
About 1 in 4 people have flu-like symptoms, including sore throat, fever, fatigue, nausea, headache and stomach pain.
And the US Centers for Disease Control and Control indicated that 1 in 200 people will develop more serious symptoms, including tingling and numbness in the legs, inflammation of the brain or spinal cord, and paralysis.
In fact, there is no cure for polio.
Treatment may include muscle-relaxing medications, hypothermia, and physical therapy to stimulate the muscles.
However, any paralysis caused by the polio virus is lifelong.
“This patient was weak and paralyzed,” Schnabel Robert said.
This is the first case of polio diagnosed in the United States since 2013, according to the New York Department of Health.
The New York case was identified as type 2 vaccine-derived poliovirus, indicating that it was transmitted from a person who received the oral polio vaccine, which contains a live but weakened form of the polio virus.
This indicates that the virus originated outside the United States, according to officials, where the oral vaccine is still given.
Currently, the origin of this particular case virus is being investigated.
Health officials said Thursday that the person had not traveled outside the United States before or following being diagnosed.
The oral polio vaccine has not been approved for use in the United States.
In fact, not everyone can get polio from the vaccine itself.
However, in recent years, cases of polio linked to oral vaccine leakage have emerged in communities where vaccination rates are low.
Health officials believe that the strain of the virus that the patient contracted originated in this way.
When this weakened strain of the virus spreads among unvaccinated populations, usually in areas with poor sanitary conditions, the virus can acquire mutations and revert to the paralyzing formula.
Polio cases were common in the United States and around the world.
During one of the most severe outbreaks in 1952, the virus infected 58,000 people in the United States, paralyzed more than 21,000 people, and killed more than 3,100 people.
Nevertheless, vaccination campaigns have significantly reduced the number of cases.
The last case of polio in the United States occurred in 1979.
