The first known US case of polio in nearly a decade was contracted by an unvaccinated 20-year-old man in Rockland County who had recently traveled to Poland and Hungary, health officials said.
The man was hospitalized in June and initially diagnosed with acute flaccid myelitis, a spinal cord condition that causes paralysis and muscle weakness, a health official not unauthorized to speak told the Washington Post.
Doctors soon found a type of polio that’s generally transmitted abroad and the patient was discharged to his parents’ home, where he’s been living with his wife, according to the outlet.
The man, who sources told The Post was linked to the local Orthodox Jewish community, is not contagious, the state Health Department said in an alert Thursday.
There have been no reported polio cases in Hungary or Poland in recent years, though nearby Ukraine — which residents are fleeing amid the Russian invasion — has reported at least 19 cases since January, according to Science Daily.
A 20-year-old man from Rockland County is believed to have contracted polio while in Poland and Hungary.Dr. Karp/Emory University/CDC via AP
Ukraine had a polio outbreak in 2015 and two people came down with the viral disease last year, including a 17-month-old girl who suffered paralysis, according to the World Health Organization.
The Rockland County case is the first recorded in the US since 2013.
The highly effective, CDC-approved vaccine against the virus, which is required for schoolchildren in New York state, all but eradicated the disease in the US in the 1970s.
The man who tested positive for polio is not contagious, according to the state Health Department.Sarah Poser, Meredith Boyter Newlove/CDC via AP
The state Health Department, which is investigating the chain of transmission, didn’t immediately return a request for more information Friday.