The US Records Its First Case Of Polio Since 2013
Poliovirus was eradicated from the US in 1979, but foreign travelers do occasionally bring the pathogen into the country.
author
BEN TAUB

Aresident of Rockland County has contracted polio, marking the first infection with the virus in the US since 2013, the New York State Health Department has announced. It is thought that the unnamed individual – who is not vaccinated – came into contact with the pathogen after it was brought into the country by someone who had received an outdated form of the vaccine that contains a live yet weakened form of the virus.

Since 2000, the US has administered an injectable vaccine containing an inactive version of the polio virus. Prior to this, the oral polio vaccine (OPV), which includes the live pathogen in harmless amounts, was predominantly offered to ...

https://www.iflscience.com/the-us-recor ... 2013-64556

I remember when the polio vaccine was first made available - every student in my school lined up for their shot. That's every one. Without exception.

Yep. Mobile mini-clinic in a bus came around to schools.

We got the oral polio vaccine which was contagios. We got it at school. Your parents had a sign papers for you NOT to get it. I think that was just for the christian scientists.

I'm older than you but I remember when polio vaccinations became available. Every student (and I mean EVERY student) lined up to get their shots. After all, our parents knew what polio could do to kids.

And I remember a few years earlier (I was maybe four) but before the vaccine became available. In those days they'd hand out antibiotics like candy for things like the common cold. And I was prescribed sulfa because I had a cold - turns out I am seriously allergic to that drug and it makes my joints swell up. I couldn't walk. Couldn't even stand. My father had to carry me everywhere in the house. And it was the middle of the summer (the height of polio season). I'm sure it scared the absolute shit out of them.

I was born when Eisenhower was president. I'm one of the youngest members here

Polio detected in NYC's sewage, suggesting virus circulating
Karen Matthews and Mike Stobbe

The virus that causes polio has been found in New York City's wastewater in another sign that the disease, which hadn't been seen in the U.S. in a decade, is quietly spreading among unvaccinated people, health officials said Friday.
The presence of the poliovirus in the city's wastewater suggests likely local circulation of the virus, health authorities from the city, New York state and the federal government said.

The authorities urged parents to get their children vaccinated against the potentially deadly disease.

“The risk to New Yorkers is real but the defense is so simple - get vaccinated against polio,” New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan said. “With polio circulating in our communities there is simply nothing more essential than vaccinating our children to protect them from this virus, and if you're an unvaccinated or incompletely vaccinated adult, please choose now to get the vaccine. Polio is entirely preventable and its reappearance should be a call to action for all of us.”

Dr. Jose R. Romero, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said, “This is sobering; we know polio spreads silently, and it's likely that ...

https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/polio-det ... -1.6024829

Wonder if this is all climate related?

Suspect it's more likely the result of people becoming complacent over vaccinations. After all, we rarely hear about people contracting the disease - fact is, it's almost extinct in most of the world.

And we don't see the results of someone coming down with polio. I have to say that the only two polio victims I know are both "elderly" and neither contracted the disease in North America. One was a lawyer who grew up in Sri Lanka (would have been Ceylon in the day) and he'd be in his early 90's today. The other is in his late 70's and contracted the disease when his parents were stationed in the far East before a vaccine became available to them.