The state of New York has declared a state of emergency after finding evidence that the virus is widespread among the population. According to the authorities, the objective is to improve the vaccination rate against this viral disease. The disease has been causing concern in the United States since the detection of a case in July in the same state.
Following traces in sewage.
July’s was the first case of polio, polio, since 2013 in the United States. It occurred in Rockland County, located a few miles north of New York City. After the first diagnosis, the authorities decided to study the wastewater to check to what extent the virus was circulating in the environment without being detected. Given the results of that study and despite the fact that Rockland’s case is the only one confirmed to date, the New York authorities have decided to declare the alarm.
Alarm to improve the vaccination rate.
This is the third state of health emergency this year in the state on the American east coast, after the pandemic and monkeypox. The authorities have emphasized the need to increase vaccination rates.
State Health Commissioner Mary T. Bassett explained that “with polio, we just can’t roll the dice. [Para quienes no están vacunados] the risk of paralytic disease is real.” This seems to have been the case for the person who was diagnosed with the disease.
Polio was virtually eradicated from the United States, which in 1979 was declared “polio-free.” The achievement was possible thanks to vaccination, started 24 years earlier, in 1955.
Fall in vaccination.
In 2021, 92% of children under one year of age had been vaccinated against polio, a rate close to that of the previous two decades. Between 2002 and 2021, the vaccination rate for children under 1 year of age was over 90%.
Despite this, the state of New York only has 79% of the population vaccinated. It is expected to reach 90% through the state of emergency declared yesterday. One of the problems to face will be the regional inequality in this rate, with some areas below 60% of the vaccinated population.
Will it come to Europe?
Although no case has been detected in the European Union, an analysis of the waste in London set off the first alarms. According to the European Center for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC), the Union and its surrounding countries in the WHO European Region have been polio-free since 2002, but the situation may change if the virus continues to spread. circulating.
The vaccination rate in our environment is higher than that of the United States. According to data from the World Health Organization, in Spain the percentage of vaccinated babies during the first two decades of the 21st century exceeded 95%, reaching 99% of vaccinated babies in 2003. However, this number has fallen to 94% in 2020 and to 92% in 2021.
This drop has not occurred in Portugal, which between 2018 and 2021 vaccinated 99% of babies born. France also vaccinates its newborns more frequently than Spain, in this case 96% of them between 2016 and 2021, somewhat less than those it vaccinated in the previous decade, in which it was also around the 99% rate. In the EU, Poland and Romania are the only countries with vaccination rates that imply risk for the ECDC. according to
Poliomyelitis.
Polio is an infectious disease caused by a virus, the poliovirus, which affects the nerves and can cause permanent partial or total paralysis. It is a disease that can be fatal. It is estimated that this irreversible paralysis affects one in 200 infections and that between 5 and 10% of these cases lead to death according to WHO data.
Symptoms can vary depending on the severity of the disease, ranging 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 against polio beyond the vaccine, but the strategy is to treat its symptoms with antibiotics for some urinary infections associated with intermediate and severe cases of the disease, analgesics to treat pain, or physiotherapy for recovery. of mobility. Despite the severity of some cases, global polio cases have fallen by 99% since 1988.
