The virus that causes polio was identified in wastewater in New York City, USA, which could suggest the presence of local transmission. This was reported by health authorities, while urging the population to get vaccinated.
"The New York City Department of Health and the New York State Department of Health identified poliovirus in New York City wastewater, suggesting local transmission of the virus," the department said Friday. of the city’s health in a statement cited by the Reuters agency .
This finding comes weeks after a case of polio in an adult was confirmed in Rockland County (July 21), the first in the country in a decade. Earlier that month, health authorities said the virus had been found in suburban New York wastewater.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had said at the time that it was not yet clear whether the virus was actively spreading in New York or elsewhere in the country. .
Now, U.S. health officials fear there are hundreds, even thousands, of undiagnosed cases of polio in the country. This was stated by Patricia Schnabel Ruppert, health commissioner of the New York county of Rockland, who in statements to the BBC explained: "When we see a person paralyzed by polio, this does not mean that there is only one case of polio. The incidence of paralytic polio is less than 1%".
He added: "Most cases are asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic, and those symptoms often go unnoticed. So if we see one case of paralytic polio, that means there are hundreds, maybe even thousands of cases, that have occurred."
