Metro

Polio reported in Rockland County, NY — first known case in US since 2013

A Rockland County, New York, resident has polio — marking the first case recorded in the US in nearly a decade, officials said Thursday.

The patient, a young adult who was not vaccinated against the virus, is experiencing paralysis, according to local health officials.

The person developed symptoms a month ago and had not recently traveled outside the country. Officials didn’t provide further details about the patient.

“While Rockland County does have a high vaccination rate, we’re not immune to vaccine hesitancy,” Rockland County Executive Ed Day said at a press conference.

“It’s exactly what led to the measles crisis we dealt with and why we are constantly doing what we can to be proactive about getting people vaccinated.”

Three elected officials, who requested anonymity to speak candidly, told The Post that the case was connected to the local Orthodox Jewish community where pockets of vaccine resistance stoked an outbreak of measles in 2019.

Polio is a highly contagious virus that often enters the body through the mouth. Getty Images/Science Photo Library

The patient is no longer deemed contagious, but the chain of transmission that led to the case is under investigation, the state DOH said.

It appears the case involves a vaccine-derived strain of polio, meaning it could have been spread via someone who got the live vaccine — which is available in other countries but not the US.

State health officials advised medical practitioners to be “vigilant for additional cases.”

Polio is a highly contagious virus that often enters the body through the mouth via contaminated water, and in its worst cases can cause paralysis or death. 

The highly effective, CDC-approved vaccine against the virus, which is required for schoolchildren in New York state, all but eradicated the disease in the US in the 1970s. The Rockland County case is the first recorded in the country since 2013.

Extreme cases of polio can cause paralysis or death. Getty Images

The state DOH told The Post it is the first known instance of polio in New York in decades, but did not provide an exact date of the last recorded case.

“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,” Day said in a statement

“The fact that it is still around decades after the vaccine was created shows you just how relentless it is. Do the right thing for your child and the greater good of your community and have your child vaccinated now.”

Rockland County is hosting an emergency polio vaccination clinic in Pomona, New York. Getty Images/iStockphoto

Rockland County is hosting an emergency polio vaccination clinic in Pomona, New York, where unvaccinated New Yorkers can receive free jabs. The county health commissioner said she is coordinating with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to prevent further spread. 

“Vaccines have protected our health against old and new viruses for decades,” New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan said in a statement. “The fact is, the urgency of safe and effective vaccines has always been here, and we need New Yorkers to protect themselves against completely preventable viruses like polio.”

In recent years, efforts at eradicating polio worldwide have been incredibly successful. Case numbers plummeted from 350,000 in 1988 to 140 in 2020, according to the CDC. Polio is endemic in only two counties, Afghanistan and Pakistan. The CDC said if it weren’t for the vaccine and global eradication efforts, an estimated 18 million people would currently be paralyzed from the virus.

With Post wires