An unvaccinated young adult from New York recently contracted polio, the first U.S. case in nearly a decade, health officials said Thursday.
The person developed symptoms a month ago and did not recently travel outside the country, county health officials said.It appears the patient had a vaccine-derived strain of the virus, perhaps from someone who got live vaccine -- available in other countries, but not the U.S. -- and spread it, officials said.
"We want shots in the arms of those who need it," she said at a Thursday press conference announcing the case. There are two types of polio vaccines. The U.S. and many other countries use shots made with an inactivated version of the virus. But some countries where polio has been more of a recent threat use a weakened live virus that is given to children as drops in the mouth. In rare instances, the weakened virus can mutate into a form capable of sparking new outbreaks.
Polio spreads mostly from person to person or through contaminated water. It can infect a person's spinal cord, causing paralysis and possibly permanent disability and death. The disease mostly affects children.
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