First polio case reported in the US in nearly ten years



NEW YORK: On Thursday, the United States announced the first case of polio in nearly a decade. According to the health department of New York State, a person who lives in Rockland County, 48 kilometres (30 miles) north of Manhattan, tested positive for the illness.


According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, America last had polio in 2013.

According to officials, the most recent case was of a type that was "indicative of a transmission chain from an individual who had the oral polio vaccination (OPV)".

In the United States, the oral vaccination was stopped in 2000.

Since revertant strains cannot develop from inactivated vaccines, the New York health agency speculated that the virus may have originated in a country outside of the US where OPV is given.