\u0027Hundreds of people\u0027 may be infected with polio say New York authorities
“Based on earlier polio outbreaks, New Yorkers should know that for every one case of paralytic polio observed, there may be hundreds of other people infected,” BassettCoupled with the latest wastewater findings, the department is treating the single case of polio as just the tip of the iceberg of much greater potential spread.”after traces of the highly contagious virus were found in sewage in London, the government said.
Britain, like many developed nations, has been largely polio-free since the 1980s due to the high uptake of the vaccine. So far, no cases have been reported.Article content Polio, spread mainly through contamination by faecal matter, used to kill and paralyze thousands of children annually worldwide. There is no cure, but vaccination brought the world close to ending the wild, or naturally occurring, form of the disease. It paralyzes less than one per cent of children who are infected.Article content
While polio has largely been eradicated, it remains endemic in two countries: Pakistan and Afghanistan.Polio has no cure, but infection can be prevented by vaccination — and a dramatic reduction in cases worldwide in recent decades has been due to intense national and regional immunization campaigns in babies and children.Article content