Unvaccinated man in NY paralyzed by polio. Health Commissioner: for every one case of paralytic polio observed, there may be hundreds.
CDC sends team to investigate Rockland County polio case, to help with vaccines
The group will also help with vaccinations in Rockland County.
ALBANY, New York (WABC) -- The CDC sent a team to New York to investigate an identified case of polio in the state.
The group will also help with vaccinations.
Meanwhile, New York state health officials issued a more urgent call Thursday for unvaccinated children and adults to get inoculated against polio, citing new evidence of possible "community spread" of the dangerous virus.
Video in player above is from a previous report.
The polio virus has now been found in seven different wastewater samples in two adjacent counties north of New York City, health officials said.
A majority of people infected with polio have no symptoms, but can still shed the virus and give it to others for days or weeks. A small percentage of people who get the disease suffer paralysis. The disease is fatal for between 5-10% of those paralyzed.
All school children in New York are required to have a polio vaccine, but enforcement of vaccination rules in some areas can be lax. Rockland and Orange counties are both known as centers of vaccine resistance. Statewide, about 79% of have completed their polio vaccination series by age two. In Orange County, that rate is 59%. In Rockland it is 60%.
The Orange County wastewater samples were initially collected from municipal wastewater treatment plants for COVID-19 testing.
"It is concerning that polio, a disease that has been largely eradicated through vaccination, is now circulating in our community, especially given the low rates of vaccination for this debilitating disease in certain areas of our County," said Orange County Health Commissioner Irina Gelman said. "I urge all unvaccinated Orange County residents to get vaccinated as soon as medically feasible."
