The United States on Thursday reported its first case of polio in almost a decade.
Officials warned healthcare providers to be on the lookout for more cases and urged people in the area who are not vaccinated to get the shot.
A massive global effort has in recent decades come close to wiping out polio, a crippling and potentially fatal viral disease that mainly affects children under the age of five. Cases have decreased by 99 percent since 1988, when polio was endemic in 125 countries and 350,000 cases were recorded worldwide.
In the United States, cases declined dramatically in the late 1950s and early 1960s after a vaccine was developed.OPV replicates in the gut and can be passed to others through fecal-contaminated water – meaning it won't hurt the child who has been vaccinated, but could infect neighbors in places where hygiene and immunization levels are low.
While weaker than wild poliovirus, which now exists only in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the variant can cause serious illness and paralysis in people not vaccinated against the disease.and British health officials said that a type of poliovirus derived from vaccines had been detected in London sewage samples.
Canada Latest News, Canada Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Chicago US Rep. Jesús Chuy García’s staff among U.S. House aides filing to unionizeAides working for U.S. Rep. Jesús ‘Chuy’ García, a union advocate, filed Monday to create a union, joining staffers in other congressional offices.
Read more »
New York records first U.S. polio case in almost a decadeNew York health officials confirmed Thursday that a case of polio was recently recorded in Rockland County, the first time the highly infectious virus has been reported in the U.S. since 2013.
Read more »
New York resident tests positive for polio, first reported U.S. case in nearly a decadeThe New York State Department of Health said the person who tested positive for the disease lives in Rockland County, about 30 miles north of Manhattan.
Read more »
First U.S. case of polio in decades discovered in New YorkNo polio cases have originated in the U.S. since 1979.
Read more »
Polio Case Identified In New York, First In US In Nearly A DecadeRockland County in New York says it has detected a confirmed case of polio, the first case of its kind in the U.S. in nearly 10 years.
Read more »