CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Polio is back in the headlines this week after the first case in the U.S. in nearly a decade was reported in New York.
Just days ago, the New York State Department of Health announced it had detected polio in wastewater in New York City.
While many medical experts have been adamant a majority of Americans are not at risk of contracting the virus, there are still claims and questions about polio.
OUR SOURCES
THE QUESTION
How does polio spread?
THE ANSWER
WHO and CDC experts said polio primarily spreads through fecal or oral contact, such as when someone doesn't wash their hands after going to the bathroom or changing a baby's diaper.
THE QUESTION
Is the oral polio vaccine given out decades ago still effective?
THE ANSWER
Many older Americans got the polio vaccine during a mass vaccination campaign in the 1950s. Some kids received the oral vaccine in a sugar cube.
Evers said that past vaccine remains effective at preventing the spread of polio.
"Yes, it is," Evers said. "But it is no longer given out because of the small risk in the population spreading that attenuated virus. But it is true, it's an effective form of being protected against polio."
A quick vocabulary check: An "attenuated vaccine" means the vaccine contains a weakened form of a virus to help elicit a strong and long-lasting immune response.
THE QUESTION
Does the U.S. still use the oral polio vaccine?
THE ANSWER
The answer is no, according to Evers and the CDC.
"There was a very, very low risk, like one in 2.4 million, that the oral polio vaccine could spread and cause polio," Evers said. "So in 2000, it became routine in this country to use the inactivated polio vaccine, which is given as an injection in the arm or leg, and there is no risk of that sort of vaccine causing polio in the community."
Some countries still administer the polio vaccine orally because it's often easier and cheaper.
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