Avian Flu Diary: COCA Call Today: How to Recognize and Report Polio, and Reinforce Routine Childhood Polio Vaccination

#16,975

Five weeks ago, in New York State DOH: Rockland County Reports A Polio Case, we saw the first locally acquired case of polio paralysis in the United States in nearly a decade, followed a week later by a NYS DOH statement on finding the poliovirus in environmental samples at a Rockland Wastewater treatment plant.

Since then two other New York Counties (Orange and Sullivan) have detected the virus in wastewater plants, raising concerns that the poliovirus is being transmitted stealthily across a much wider swath of New York State than previously believed.

(From the New York DOH letter to Residents of infected counties)

As the CDC reported in their scientific publication,3 “Even a single case of paralytic polio represents a public health emergency in the United States.” This is because one symptomatic case means that there may be hundreds more unidentified. While polio is most known for the debilitating symptoms it can cause, many New Yorkers do not know that some people who contract polio experience no symptoms, 25% experience mild or flu-like symptoms, and about 1% develop severe symptoms, including paralysis.4
This means that asymptomatic spread in New York is likely, and of enormous concern. New Yorkers should not take comfort in the fact that some people will not experience symptoms from polio; this only makes the danger of this life-threatening virus invisible until the irreversible occurs. Your community members must not wait. Now is the time for every adult, including those who are pregnant, to ensure

While this remains primarily a New York problem, polio vaccination rates across the country have have fallen in recent years, placing the entire country at increased risk of seeing cases. Later today the CDC will hold a COCA call for clinicians on the history of polio in the United States, the outbreak in New York, and a clinical review of the disease (and how to report it).

As always, if you are unable to attend the live presentation, these (and past) webinars are archived and available for later viewing at this LINK.

Details on today's presentation follow:

Polio in New York: How to Recognize and Report Polio, and Reinforce Routine Childhood Polio Vaccination

Overview

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is investigating a case of poliomyelitis, or paralytic polio, in New York state in an unvaccinated patient who presented to an emergency room with lower limb weakness and fever. CDC urges all healthcare providers to ensure their patients are current on the primary polio vaccination series. Healthcare providers should consider polio in the differential diagnosis of patients with sudden onset of limb weakness, especially in unvaccinated individuals and those with recent international travel to places where poliovirus is circulating.

During this COCA Call, presenters will discuss the history of polio in the United States and the current New York state outbreak. They will also review clinical aspects of poliovirus infection, how to report suspected cases, and recommendations for polio vaccination in the United States.

Presenters

Farrell Tobolowsky, DO, MS
LCDR, U.S. Public Health Service
Clinical Task Force Lead
2022 NYS Polio Response
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Emily Lutterloh, MD, MPH
Director, Division of Epidemiology
New York State Department of Health

Janell Routh, MD, MHS
CAPT, U.S. Public Health Service
Incident Manager
2022 NYS Polio Response
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Georgina Peacock, MD, MPH
Director, Division of Immunization Services
National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention