New York state declared a state of emergency after finding evidence that the virus was widespread among the population. According to the authorities, the aim is to increase the rate of vaccination against this viral disease. The disease has been causing concern in the United States since a case was detected in the same state in July.

To follow the traces in the sewer.
It was the first case of polio in the United States since July 2013. It occurred in Rockland County, a few miles north of New York City. After the initial diagnosis, authorities decided to examine the wastewater to check how much the virus circulated in the environment undetected. Given the results of this study, and despite the fact that Rockland’s case is the only confirmed case to date, New York officials decided to declare the alarm.

Alarm to increase vaccination rate.
This is the third health emergency this year in the state on the east coast of America, after the pandemic and monkeypox. Authorities stressed the need to increase vaccination rates.

State Health Commissioner Mary T. Bassett said, “We can’t roll the dice with polio. [Para quienes no están vacunados] The risk of stroke is real.” This seems to apply to the person who has the disease.

Polio was almost completely eradicated from the United States, which was declared “polio-free” in 1979. The success was made possible thanks to the vaccination initiated 24 years ago in 1955.

Falling in.
In 2021, 92% of children under the age of one were vaccinated against polio, a rate close to the previous two decades. Between 2002-2021, the vaccination rate of children under the age of 1 was over 90%.

Despite this, the state of New York only vaccinated 79% of the population. It is expected to reach 90 percent with the state of emergency declared yesterday. One of the problems to be faced will be the regional disparity in this ratio in some regions below 60% of the vaccinated population.

Will it come to Europe?
Although no cases have been identified in the European Union, analysis of waste in London raised the first alarms. According to the European Center for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC), the Union and surrounding countries in the WHO European Region have been polio-free since 2002, but that could change if the virus continues to spread.

The vaccination rate in our area is higher than in the United States. According to World Health Organization data, the rate of babies vaccinated in Spain in the first two decades of the 21st century has exceeded 95%, reaching 99% of babies vaccinated in 2003. However, that number dropped to 94% in 2020 and to 92% in 2021.

This decline did not occur in Portugal, which vaccinated 99% of babies born between 2018 and 2021. France also vaccinates its newborn babies more often than Spain, so 96% of them between 2016 and 2021, slightly less than they had in the previous decade, and again around 99%. In the EU, Poland and Romania are the only countries with vaccine rates that pose a risk for ECDC. by

poliomyelitis.
Polio is an infectious disease caused by the polio virus, a virus that affects the nerves and can cause permanent partial or complete paralysis. It is a fatal disease. These irreversible strokes are estimated to affect one in 200 infections and lead to death in 5% to 10% of these cases, according to WHO data.

Depending on the severity of the disease, symptoms can range from asymptomatic cases to paralytic disease, which can cause mild symptoms such as fever and headache, to muscle weakness and paralysis associated with severe cases.

There is no specific treatment beyond the vaccine against polio, but for some urinary tract infections associated with moderate to severe cases of the disease, the strategy is to treat their symptoms with antibiotics, analgesics to treat pain, or physiotherapy to improve mobility. Despite the severity of some cases, global polio cases have dropped 99% since 1988.

Image | Mufid Majnun