US reported first polio case while a person from Rockland Country, New York tested positive for polio virus after almost a decade. America last recorded a polio case in 2013.
The New York State department of health said in a statement that the person was infected with a type 2 vaccine-derived poliovirus, which would have come from oral polio vaccine used in a number of countries, but not the United States. The U.S. stopped using oral polio vaccine in 2000.
Most of the U.S. population has protection against polio because they were vaccinated during childhood, but in some communities with low vaccine coverage, there are unvaccinated people at risk.
Officials warned healthcare providers to be on the lookout for more cases and urged people in the area who are not vaccinated to get the shot.
A massive global effort has in recent decades come close to wiping out polio, a crippling and potentially fatal viral disease that mainly affects children under the age of five.
While weaker than wild poliovirus, which now exists only in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the variant can cause serious illness and paralysis in people not vaccinated against the disease.
Last month, the World Health Organization and British health officials said that a type of poliovirus derived from vaccines had been detected in London sewage samples.