In July 2022, health officials in Rockland County, a community just north of New York City, confirmed a polio case, the first detection of the disease on American soil in nearly a decade. The virus appears to have traveled from abroad and to have passed through someone who had received an oral vaccine, a formulation the country stopped using decades ago. For a generation that never knew polio's terror, the news stirred old memories, and it arrived amid a broader worldwide slide in childhood immunization that many now fear could let once-vanquished illnesses return.
First U.S. Polio Case in Nearly a Decade Confirmed in Rockland County, New York
A disease that struck fear in families returns to the headlines
Mark
Polio was declared eradicated here in 1979. So why does one case matter so much?
Mimi
Because the virus is highly contagious, and officials are asking clinicians to watch for more cases. One diagnosis is treated as a possible signal, not an isolated event.
Mark
Where did it come from?
Mimi
Sequencing suggests it was likely transmitted from someone who got an oral polio vaccine, which hasn't been used in the U.S. since 2000. Officials say that points to an origin outside the country.
Luke
Careful, though. The wording is "may have originated" and "likely transmitted." That's an inference from sequencing, not a traced chain of contact.
Mark
Is there a larger pattern?
Mimi
There's context. The UN and WHO warned of the biggest sustained drop in childhood vaccination in about 30 years, with 23 million children missing basic vaccines last year. London also found poliovirus in wastewater.
Luke
Those are separate facts. The reporting doesn't say they're connected to the New York case, and it doesn't say how this patient was infected or vaccinated.
Mark
What are people being asked to do?
Mimi
Clinicians should stay vigilant, and high-risk groups should get vaccinated or boosted.
Luke
And what we don't know yet is whether there are other cases.
El Pulso
- A diagnosis few under a certain age expected to hear has jolted Rockland County, just north of New York City.
- Genetic sequencing points to a likely origin outside the country and to transmission from someone who received an oral polio vaccine.
- State and county health departments are urging clinicians to stay alert for additional cases while the virus spreads through a highly contagious population.
- Officials are pressing vaccinations and boosters for high-risk groups, racing to close gaps that pandemic disruptions widened.
- The case lands against a warning that millions of children missed routine shots, leaving the region's protection uncertain.
In July 2022, health officials in Rockland County, a community just north of New York City, confirmed a polio case, the first detection of the disease on American soil in nearly a decade. The virus appears to have traveled from abroad and to have passed through someone who had received an oral vaccine, a formulation the country stopped using decades ago. For a generation that never knew polio's terror, the news stirred old memories, and it arrived amid a broader worldwide slide in childhood immunization that many now fear could let once-vanquished illnesses return.
On a Thursday in July 2022, health officials in New York announced a diagnosis that few Americans under a certain age had ever expected to hear: polio. The patient lived in Rockland County, just north of New York City, and it was the first time the disease had been detected in the United States in nearly a decade.
The New York State and Rockland County health departments said the virus may have come from outside the country. Genetic sequencing suggested it likely spread from someone who had received an oral polio vaccine, a formulation not given in the U.S. since 2000. Because polio spreads so easily, clinicians were asked to watch closely for more cases and to encourage vaccination and boosters for people at high risk.
Rockland County Executive Ed Day spoke of his own childhood, when polio filled families with fear. That fear was well grounded. Polio once caused more than 15,000 cases of paralysis a year in the country, until a vaccine introduced in 1955 cut infections dramatically. No cases have originated domestically since 1979, though infected travelers have brought the virus in since.
The diagnosis came as childhood immunization was slipping worldwide. The United Nations and the World Health Organization had warned that pandemic disruptions produced the largest sustained drop in childhood vaccinations in about 30 years, with 23 million children missing basic shots last year. The virus had also turned up in London wastewater weeks earlier.
On a Thursday in July 2022, health officials in New York announced a diagnosis that few Americans under a certain age had ever expected to hear: a case of polio. The patient was in Rockland County, just north of New York City. It was the first time the disease had been detected in the United States in nearly a decade.
The announcement came jointly from the New York State Department of Health and the Rockland County Department of Health. They said the virus may have come from outside the country. Genetic sequencing of the New York case showed it was likely transmitted from someone who had received an oral polio vaccine, a formulation that has not been given in the U.S. since 2000.
Because polio is so contagious, officials asked healthcare professionals to stay vigilant and watch for additional cases. They also asked clinicians to encourage vaccination, and boosters for people in high-risk groups.
Rockland County Executive Ed Day addressed the diagnosis in a statement that reached back to his own childhood. Many people, he said, may be too young to remember polio, but when he was growing up the disease struck fear in families, his own included.
The fear had a basis. According to the Centers for Disease Control, polio was once among the most dangerous diseases in the country, causing more than 15,000 cases of paralysis every year. A vaccine introduced in 1955 cut infections dramatically. Thanks to widespread vaccination, the CDC says, the virus that causes polio no longer circulates year-round in the U.S. No known cases have originated within the country since 1979, the year polio was declared eradicated here. Infected travelers have still carried the virus in from abroad, most recently in 2013.
Rockland County has faced a vaccine-preventable outbreak before. In 2018, it suffered an outbreak of measles, another highly contagious disease.
The diagnosis arrived against a wider backdrop of slipping childhood immunization. The United Nations and the World Health Organization warned the week before that disruptions from the Covid-19 pandemic had produced the largest sustained decline in childhood vaccinations in approximately 30 years. Last year, 23 million children missed basic vaccines delivered through routine immunization services. Officials said such backsliding raises the risk that diseases like measles and polio could resurge.
The poliovirus had also surfaced elsewhere in recent weeks. The month before, traces of it were detected in London wastewater, prompting British officials to urge people to make sure their polio vaccinations were up to date. Polio was declared eradicated in the U.K. in 2003.
What to watch now is whether clinicians in and around Rockland County identify further cases, and whether the vaccination and booster push among high-risk groups takes hold.
Citas Notables
Many of you may be too young to remember polio, but when I was growing up, this disease struck fear in families, including my own.— Ed Day, Rockland County Executive
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