In New York State, polio infection has been detected in the United States for the first time in nearly a decade. The local health authority for the district of Rockland, in northern New York, said Thursday that an unvaccinated resident of the state had contracted the disease. According to the media, polio has been eradicated in the United States since 1979. The last known case of proven infection was in 2013. According to the Washington Post newspaper, the patient is an unvaccinated 20-year-old man who traveled to Poland and Hungary earlier this year.

“We are currently interviewing the family and close contacts of this individual to assess risk to the community,” said Patricia Schnabel Ruppert, Rockland County Public Health Physician. In a press release, the authorities called on doctors to be more vigilant. “Based on what we know about this case and polio in general, the New York State Department of Health strongly recommends getting a polio shot or booster as soon as possible,” said he said, New York State Health Commissioner Mary Basset was quoted in the statement. .

Poliomyelitis – also known as poliomyelitis – is often asymptomatic but can cause flu-like symptoms such as sore throat, fever, fatigue and nausea. In a small percentage of cases, the virus can enter the nervous system and cause irreversible paralysis, especially in young children. The highly contagious virus is often spread through contaminated water. So far there is no cure for poliomyelitis, the virus has been defeated through nationwide vaccinations.

According to the Robert Koch Institute, the last known cases in Germany were imported from India and Egypt in 1992, and the last infection in Germany was in 1990. Since national vaccinations in the 1960s, the virus is considered eradicated in Germany. In June, the polio virus was detected in London’s sewage for the first time since the 1980s.