Polio virus detected in wastewater in several Nassau communities, officials say

Polio virus has been detected in wastewater samples taken from North Hempstead, the first trace of the once-eradicated disease in Nassau, state and county officials announced Friday. 

The sample was collected last month and genetic tests show it is linked to the state's individual case of paralytic polio identified in a Rockland County resident, indicating “further evidence of expanding community spread,” state Health Department spokeswoman Samantha Fuld said. 

Gov. Kathy Hochul on Friday declared a state disaster emergency through an executive order that would make vaccine resources more broadly available. 

The virus has been identified in wastewater collected from sewers in Manhasset, Port Washington, Glenwood Landing, Roslyn and surrounding areas, county officials said. Nassau is the fifth county where CDC testing has found traces of the virus.

In addition to Nassau and Rockland, a similar strain of polio was found in the wastewater in Orange County, New York City and Sullivan County, according to state health officials. 

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, in a Friday morning briefing, said the county Department of Health was working closely with officials from the state and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to respond to the new finding through stepped-up vaccination awareness and communication with local physicians. 

"There is no crisis right now. There is no reported, active case of polio in Nassau County," Blakeman said. "We need to be vigilant. … We're being very, very cautious and monitoring the situation." 

Federal and state officials have confirmed an adequate stockpile of polio vaccine, Blakeman said. 

Polio, which was declared eradicated in the United States in 1979 after mass vaccination efforts, can be a serious and debilitating illness that affects the brain and spinal cord, causing paralysis in some cases. A majority of the cases are mild, experts say; good hand hygiene can help reduce the spread. 

Health officials say the unvaccinated, including children 2 months of age and older,, those who are pregnant, and people who have not completed their polio vaccine series previously should get immunized right away.

Unvaccinated people or those not up to date with immunizations who live, work, go to school in or visit Rockland County, Orange County, New York City, Sullivan County, and Nassau County are at the highest risk of contracting paralytic disease, according to state officials. 

Nassau Interim Health Commissioner Andrew Knecht said the polio case reported in Rockland County is a vaccine-derived strain of polio and traces of the same strain in Nassau's wastewater "could indicate that there is ongoing transmission."

He said it is possible an international traveler who took the oral vaccine available in other countries spread it to an unvaccinated person through close contact. 

"Sometimes you can have people who have polio who do not have symptoms," Knecht said. "The vaccine is 99% effective against preventing polio and that's how we were able to eradicate it in 1979. Polio is not treatable and if you get paralytic polio it is permanent." 

The polio vaccine is required for children to attend school in New York, and is dispensed in a series of four shots received in early childhood. Three of the shots are administered during a baby's first year. 

Nassau County has a 79% vaccination rate for polio; the statewide vaccine rate is 78%, Knecht said.

Dr. Frederick Davis, associate chairman of emergency medicine at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park, said the fact that polio is "creeping up" speaks to the decline in vaccination rates. He said because the vaccine is so effective in mitigating serious illness, the findings in Nassau are not a cause for alarm. 

"For the average person who is vaccinated, it's less of a concern and is less likely to contract the more serious complications of polio," Davis said.   

By Candice Ferrette

candice.ferrette@newsday.comcandiceferrette

Candice Ferrette covers Nassau County government and politics on Long Island. She has been a reporter at Newsday since 2011.