In the quiet corners of Rockland County, New York, a single unvaccinated resident has become the first person in the United States since 2013 to be diagnosed with polio, a disease the nation had long ago driven into memory. The virus turned out not to be the wild strain that once haunted American summers, but a descendant of the live oral vaccine, carried across borders from places where that older vaccine is still given. It is a reminder that protection is never only a private matter, since immunity in one household rests on the choices of many others. The episode arrives at a moment when the
New York Confirms First US Polio Case Since 2013, Traced to a Vaccine-Derived Strain Brought From Abroad
An unvaccinated Rockland County resident has contracted polio, a disease that can cause muscle weakness and paralysis.
The first polio case in the US since 2013
Mark
Polio was eradicated here in 1979. How does a case happen at all?
Mimi
The strain isn't the wild virus. It's a revertant from the oral vaccine, which can mutate in a vaccinated person's gut and be excreted, then reach unvaccinated people through contaminated water.
Mark
And that vaccine isn't used in the US anymore?
Mimi
Not since 2000. The US gives an injectable inactive version, and revertant strains can't come from that. So officials think the virus came from somewhere that still uses OPV.
Luke
Careful with "came from abroad." The health department says the virus "may have originated" outside the U.S. That's an inference from the strain type, not a traced chain of contact.
Mimi
Fair. The reporting says the person likely met the virus through someone who got OPV, but who that was isn't stated.
Luke
Do we know anything about the patient's condition?
Mimi
Not from this piece. It says polio can cause weakness and paralysis, but not what this person has experienced.
Mark
Is this a new kind of event?
Mimi
No. The last comparable case was a seven-month-old who moved to Texas from India in 2013.
Luke
And the London sewage finding is a separate report. Nothing here says the two are linked.
Mark
So what should Rockland residents do?
Mimi
Check their vaccination status. Clinics have been set up for anyone unvaccinated or at risk.
Der Puls
- A rare and frightening diagnosis has jolted a community that had all but forgotten what polio can do.
- Health officials have traced the virus to a vaccine-derived strain, not wild poliovirus, pointing toward a source beyond the country's borders.
- Local clinics are opening their doors as officials press residents to confirm their vaccination status and close the gap quickly.
- Traces of the same vaccine-derived virus in London sewage suggest the threat is circulating more widely than one county can contain.
In the quiet corners of Rockland County, New York, a single unvaccinated resident has become the first person in the United States since 2013 to be diagnosed with polio, a disease the nation had long ago driven into memory. The virus turned out not to be the wild strain that once haunted American summers, but a descendant of the live oral vaccine, carried across borders from places where that older vaccine is still given. It is a reminder that protection is never only a private matter, since immunity in one household rests on the choices of many others. The episode arrives at a moment when the same vaccine-derived virus has surfaced in London sewage, quietly tracing how far the world's remaining gaps reach.
New York State's Health Department has announced that a resident of Rockland County has contracted polio, the first case in the United States since 2013. The person has not been named, and officials say they were unvaccinated.
Genetic sequencing showed the infection did not come from the wild virus. It was a revertant strain from the oral polio vaccine, the live-virus form that American children received before 2000. Officials believe the virus likely came from abroad, carried by someone who had received that older vaccine in a country where it is still used. Live oral vaccine can occasionally mutate in a vaccinated person's gut and spread through contaminated water to those who have no immunity. The injectable vaccine the US adopted in 2000 contains an inactive virus and cannot produce such strains.
Polio mostly strikes young children and can cause muscle weakness and paralysis. The disease was eradicated from the US in 1979, and the wild virus has not returned. The case comes weeks after UK officials found an OPV-derived strain in London sewage. Health authorities in Rockland County are now urging residents to check their vaccination status, with clinics set up for anyone who is unprotected.
New York State's Health Department has announced that a resident of Rockland County has contracted polio, the first case of the disease in the United States since 2013. The person is not named, and the department says they were unvaccinated.
Genetic sequencing showed the infection was not caused by the naturally occurring wild virus. It was what the department calls a revertant polio Sabin type 2 virus, a strain that comes from the oral polio vaccine, known as OPV. The department said this suggests the virus may have originated somewhere outside the U.S. where OPV is still given, since revertant strains cannot emerge from inactivated vaccines. The working theory is that the resident came into contact with the pathogen after it was brought into the country by someone who had received the older, live-virus form of the vaccine.
The mechanism is well understood. The oral vaccine contains the live virus in harmless amounts, and it was the main vaccine offered to children in the US before 2000. Occasionally the live virus can replicate and mutate in the gut of a person who received it, and then be excreted in their stool. That does not harm the vaccinated person, but it can infect unvaccinated people who come into contact with water contaminated by the waste. Since 2000, the US has used an injectable vaccine containing an inactive version of the virus, which cannot produce such strains.
Polio mainly affects young children. It is highly contagious and can cause muscle weakness and paralysis. The disease was eradicated from the US in 1979, after a national vaccination program that began in the mid-1950s. The wild virus has not returned, but vaccine-derived infections have occasionally appeared when travelers carried the revertant strain in from abroad. The last such case was a seven-month-old baby who had moved to Texas from India in 2013.
The Rockland County case arrives against a wider backdrop. Last month, UK health officials announced that a form of the virus derived from OPV had been found in London sewage samples. Globally, polio cases have fallen by 99 percent since 1988, and every continent except Asia is now free of the disease. The wild virus remains endemic in a small number of countries, most notably Afghanistan and Pakistan.
In the US, children receive a course of three or four doses of the polio vaccine, starting two months after birth. Fully vaccinated people are not at risk of contracting the virus, which is why health officials are urging everyone in Rockland County to check that they are covered. Local vaccination clinics have been set up so that unvaccinated or at-risk residents can get their shots.
Bemerkenswerte Zitate
This suggests that the virus may have originated in a location outside of the U.S. where OPV is administered, since revertant strains cannot emerge from inactivated vaccines.— New York State Department of Health
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