US reports 1st polio case in nearly a decade

New York health officials on Thursday reported a polio case, the first in the U.S. in nearly a decade.
Officials did not immediately offer details on who the Rockland County resident was, whether the person was vaccinated or their current condition. State officials said it appeared the person had a vaccine-derived strain of the virus, perhaps from someone who got live vaccine — available in other countries, but not the U.S. — and spread it. Polio was once one of the nation's most feared diseases, with annual outbreaks causing thousands of cases of paralysis — many of them in children. Vaccines became available starting in 1955. In 1979, polio was declared eliminated in the U.S., meaning there was no longer routine spread of the virus in the country. U.S. children are still routinely vaccinated against polio.