© Kelly Wilkinson/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK
Syndication: The Indianapolis Star
NEW YORK (77WABC) — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has deployed a federal team to New York to investigate a case of polio detected in Rockland County.
The team will also help administer vaccinations in the county. On July 21, the New York State Health Department announced an unvaccinated patient had a confirmed case of polio, the first in the United States in nearly a decade. The unvaccinated patient was infected by someone who received the oral polio vaccine, which is no longer used in the U.S.
Unlike the polio vaccine given by injection, which uses an inactive virus, the oral vaccine uses a live weakened virus.
In rare cases, the virus spreading through sewage can affect those who are unvaccinated. This is different from wild polio, which infects people by circulating naturally in the environment.
