The Rockland County scene on Friday morning may have come from a time capsule. Residents are vaccinated against polio, a highly infectious and sometimes deadly disease that has unexpectedly emerged in the suburbs of New York City.
Sudden interest in such vaccinations arose the day after county officials announced that unvaccinated local adults tested positive for the disease. The incident sounded a warning from local officials and residents who could not remember whether they had received a vaccine that has been widely used since the 1950s.
Among them was Todd Mesler, 64. He was one of 18 people who received shots at a pop-up clinic established by the County Health Department in Pomona, New York, about 35 miles north of Midtown Manhattan.
“It hurts like hell, but I feel better,” he said. “That’s definitely the way to go.”
On Friday, state and county health officials interviewed the patient’s immediate family, urged immunization of any civilian who did not receive it, and investigated the case.
Brian Bakkenson, director of the State Health Department’s Infectious Disease Control Department, said the state is trying to get as many samples as possible for testing and is checking for wastewater, but there are signs of additional cases. Said not yet. Due to signs of a virus.
Authorities also said they were trying to disseminate information about the seriousness of the infection, saying “people are not familiar with polio,” and said he was not completely familiar with polio.
“The last real polio case I’ve seen in humans is probably a picture of the FDR,” he said, referring to President Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Great Depression. “For many people, they don’t always understand what polio really is.”
It is not yet clear when and where the patient became ill, but health officials believe they have infected people who have been vaccinated with an oral polio vaccine containing a live attenuated virus.
According to county officials, such vaccines have not been given in the United States since 2000, suggesting that the virus may have “occurred outside the United States where OPV is being given.” Oral vaccines are safe, but if the vaccine-derived virus is prevalent in the community, it can infect unvaccinated people.
Progress on polio
The highly contagious virus was one of the most feared diseases until the 1950s, when the first vaccine was developed.
County officials said the tension in question could be spread by people who “contacted respiratory secretions such as feces and sneezing of infected individuals.”
The person showed symptoms about a month ago, and said Thursday the patient was suffering from “weakness and paralysis,” according to a Rockland County health commissioner.
Although only a small percentage develops into severe paralysis, Bakkenson says that many patients infected with poliovirus remain asymptomatic, making it difficult to detect how widespread the disease is. Said.
“That’s probably the biggest concern. You may not have had severe paralytic polio, but there can be many who can spread to others,” he said. rice field. “That’s the reason for the urgency.”
“Up to 95% of infected people were asymptomatic and the infection was difficult to track, so infected people did not travel abroad during the period of infection,” a Rockland County official said Friday.
Bakkenson said the Rockland incident was discovered after state officials issued a warning about another neurological disorder. Acute flaccid myelitis — Causes polio-like symptoms in children and can cause paralysis. In June, the ministry distributed a notice about the disease to clinicians and asked them to monitor the case. The patient’s doctor then sent the sample to state authorities. State officials have found polio instead of finding AFM.
County officials were warned Monday night by state officials and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that polio had been reliably identified. Although the county does not disclose much personal information about the patient, some local officials speaking anonymously due to patient privacy concerns, he is a man in his twenties and is a large orthodox county. He said he was a member of the Jewish community.
The community was also the link between the 2018 and 2019 measles outbreaks. Hundreds of incidents in the county When In brooklynIt is also the hometown of many Orthodox inhabitants. According to state data, polio vaccination rates for small children in Rockland County are significantly lower than those in other counties outside New York City. (Incorrect information about vaccines Distributed in the orthodox communityAlthough most orthodox rabbis encourage vaccination among their congregations. )
The outbreak of measles enacted a new law passed in June 2019, ending the religious exemption of immunization in the midst of intense debate in Albany.
In Monsey, the orthodox father of two young daughters, Yechiel Teichman, 27, said he was surprised by the news of the resurrection of polio, despite his and his daughter being vaccinated. ..
“I remembered an elderly family who was still suffering from polio as a kid,” said Takeman on his way home to pizza for two- and four-year-old girls. “I encourage everyone to be vaccinated.”
Like the rest of the population, Takeman confessed his fatigue and lack of patience in talking about illnesses, such as the coronavirus and recent cases of monkeypox. Still, he said, “I’m more worried about polio than Covid. Polio can do more damage.”
Leila Deutsch, 21, said she grew up ultra-Orthodox, but her parents were vaccinated for fear of polio. However, many of her friends were unvaccinated, leaving them worried and anxious.
“It’s a little freaky,” she said. “Something can happen. I don’t know what’s next.”
Similarly, elected local officials said the community and government response to polio should be as aggressive as possible.
“I can’t wait,” said Rockland Democrat Kenneth Zebrowski, who was shocked to be informed of the polio case. “They need to attack this with a war room whiteboard.”
Zebrowski, who has three children, seemed dissatisfied with his district’s re-emergence of a measles-like illness that appeared to have been conquered by modern medicine.
“Is it at risk if I take my child to the mall?” He said. “Honestly, I didn’t have to worry about this for decades.”
Aaron B. Weeder, a member of the Hasidic Jewish Rockland County Council, said he was encouraged by the reaction of the inhabitants of his community and recommended that unvaccinated people be vaccinated as soon as possible. “This can save lives,” he said.
Polio, once one of the most feared illnesses in the world, was largely domesticated Use a vaccine developed in the 1950s.. The Last known case of polio In the United States, it is believed that it was brought in from overseas in 2013. According to the CDC, the last incident in the United States was in 1979.
For Mesler, Friday morning immunization helped calm him, but he said the ongoing threat of various illnesses made him a little tired.
“It’s a drug, isn’t it?” He said. “I’m not worried at all personally, but these things will come back, come back, come back.”
Hurubie Meko contributed to the report.
