The scene in Rockland County on Friday morning may be from a time capsule: residents rolled up their sleeves and vaccinated for polio, the highly contagious and sometimes fatal disease that has made an unexpected appearance in New York City’s suburbs.
The sudden interest in such vaccinations came a day after county officials announced that a local adult, unvaccinated, had tested positive for the disease. The case prompted alarm from local officials and residents, some of whom did not remember whether or not they had received the vaccine, which has been widely available since the 1950s.
Among them was 64-year-old Todd Mesler. He was one of 18 people who received shots at a pop-up clinic set up by the county health department in Pomona, NY, about 35 miles north of midtown Manhattan.
“It hurt like hell, but I feel better,” he said. “This is definitely the way to go.”
On Friday, state and county health officials were investigating the case, interviewing immediate family members of the patient and urging vaccinations for anyone in the general public who did not receive one.
Brian Bakkenson, director of the Bureau of Communicable Disease Control at the state health department, said there was no sign of additional cases yet, though he said the state was trying to get as many samples as possible for testing and checking wastewater. was doing. For signs of virus.
Officials were also trying to spread propaganda about the seriousness of the infection, because “people are not familiar with polio,” Mr Bakkenson said, noting that he himself was not at all familiar with it.
Referring to Depression-era President Franklin D. Roosevelt, he said, “The last real case of polio I’ve seen in a person is probably FDR’s pictures.” “I think for a lot of people, they don’t necessarily understand what polio really is.”
It was still unclear when or where the patient contracted the disease, although health officials believe the person was infected with someone who had received an oral polio vaccine, which would have had a weakened live virus. Is.
Such vaccines have not been administered in the United States since 2000, suggesting that the virus “may have originated in a location outside the US where OPV is administered,” according to county officials. The oral vaccine is safe, but people who have not been vaccinated can become infected if the vaccine-derived virus is spreading in a community.
progress against 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 strain in question could be spread by people who “come into contact with feces or respiratory secretions, such as from a sneeze, from an infected person.”
The person exhibited symptoms about a month ago, according to the Rockland County health commissioner, who said on Thursday that the patient was suffering from “weakness and paralysis.”
Mr Bakkenson said only a small percentage of cases would develop into severe paralysis, but that many of those infected with the polio virus would remain asymptomatic, which could make it difficult to ascertain the extent to which the disease had spread.
“That’s probably the biggest concern: You can have a lot of people who may never have had severe paralytic polio but could potentially spread it to others,” he said. “That’s the reason for the urgency.”
On Friday, Rockland County officials said that “the person did not travel outside the country during the infection window,” adding that “up to 95 percent of those infected have no symptoms, making transmission difficult to track.” Is.”
Mr Bakkenson said the Rockland case was discovered after state officials raised the alarm about a different neurological disease – acute flaccid myelitis – that can cause polio-like symptoms in children and lead to paralysis. In June, the department distributed a notice about the disease to doctors, asking them to be on the lookout for cases. The patient’s doctor then sent a sample to state officials, who — instead of finding AFM — discovered polio.
County officials were alerted to a positive diagnosis of polio on Monday night by state officials and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The county is disclosing very little personal information about the patient, although several local officials, speaking on condition of anonymity due to patient privacy concerns, said he was a man in his 20s and the county’s large conservatives. Was a member of the Jewish community.
That community was also a nexus of measles outbreaks in 2018 and 2019, with hundreds of cases in the county and Brooklyn, which is also home to many Conservative residents. According to state data, polio vaccination rates for young children in Rockland County are significantly lower than rates for other counties outside of New York City. (Misinformation about vaccines is widespread in the Orthodox community, although most Orthodox rabbis encourage vaccination among their congregations.)
The measles outbreak led to a new law passed in June 2019 that ended religious exemptions for vaccination amid a heated debate in Albany, a controversy that has sparked nationwide debate over COVID vaccination after the pandemic began in 2020. Fought extensive battles.
Yechiel Teichman, 27, a conservative father of two young daughters, said in Monsi that he was concerned by news of a resurgence of polio, even though he and his daughters had been vaccinated.
“It reminds me of elderly family members who are still suffering from polio,” said Mr Teichman, as he took his 2- and 4-year-old girls home to get pizza. “I recommend everyone get vaccinated.”
Like other residents, Mr Teichman acknowledged a sense of exhaustion and a lack of patience when it comes to diseases, including recent cases of the coronavirus and monkeypox. Still, he said, “I worry a lot more about polio than about COVID – polio can do a lot more damage.”
Layla Dictionary, 21, said that although she has become ultra-Orthodox, her parents were scared enough of polio to be vaccinated. However, many of her friends were not vaccinated, which made her anxious and worried.
“It’s a little weird,” she said. “Anything can come up. We don’t know what’s next.”
Similarly, local elected officials said the community and government’s response to polio should be as aggressive as possible.
“It can’t wait,” said Kenneth Zebrowski, a Democrat from Rockland, who said he was informed of the polio case. “They need to attack this on white boards in a war room.”
Mr. Zebrowski, who has three children, seemed dismayed that his district was once again battling a measles-like disease that had been conquered by modern medicine, only to flare up again in an unvaccinated man.
“Are you going to be at risk if you take your kids to the mall?” They said. “We honestly haven’t had to worry about this for decades.”
A member of the Rockland County Legislature who is a Hasidic Jew, Aaron B. Wider said he was encouraged by the response from residents in his community, and he encouraged unvaccinated people to get vaccinated as soon as possible. “It could save lives,” he said.
Once one of the world’s most dreaded diseases, polio was largely controlled using vaccines developed in the 1950s. The last known case of polio in the United States was in 2013, believed to have been brought from abroad. CDC. As of now, the last case that originated in the US was in 1979.
For Mr Messler, Friday morning’s vaccinations helped put his mind at ease, although he said the ongoing threat of various diseases had left him a bit tired.
“It’s a drag, isn’t it?” They said. “I personally am not worried to any extent. But these things will keep coming back and coming back and coming back.”
Hurubi Meko contributed reporting.
(This story has not been edited by seemayo staff and is published from a rss feed)