09.09.2022
It is the first time in decades that an outbreak of polio, a disease that invades the nervous system and can cause paralysis in a matter of hours, has been detected in the United States.
The state of NY declared a state of emergency to prevent the spread of poliomyelitis (polio), after a case was detected in Rockland County on July 21in upstate New York City, from an unvaccinated person who had not traveled abroad.
The Governor of New York, Kathy Hochul, issued this Friday (09.09.2022) an executive order that will be in force until October 9 to “implement a State Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan.”
Strengthen vaccination campaigns
Among other things, with the executive order, the authorities want to concentrate their efforts on reinforce vaccination campaigns against the virus.
State services have detected the polio virus in sewage samples in three other counties, in Orange and Sullivan, north of the city, and in Nassau, located east of the metropolis.
According to New York State, only 86.2 percent of children ages 6 months to 5 years in the New York metropolitan area have received 3 doses of the vaccine.
Future Vision |
29.08.2021
Paralysis in a matter of hours
This is the first time in decades that an outbreak of polio, a highly contagious disease caused by a virus that invades the nervous system and can cause paralysis in a matter of hours, has been detected in the United States.
In 1988, the World Health Organization launched an international public health campaign with the goal of eradicating polio by the year 2000, but by 2020 cases were being reported in 34 countries, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.
Although the numbers have decreased in the last 18 months, some cases have emerged in Ukraine and Israel; in June the poliomyelitis virus was detected in the London sewage and in July in those of New York.
VT (efe, reuters)
