A pandemic-weary public already facing the uncontrolled spread of COVID-19 and monkeypox is feeling jittery about polio's resurgence. But experts say the U.S. is highly protected from widespread polio transmission, at least in highly vaccinated areas.
Polio, last detected in the U.S. in 2013, can lead to paralysis or meningitis, but many people who get the virus in their digestive tract will not display any symptoms at all. Paralysis occurs in an estimated one out of every 200 polio cases, Glatt said.
That shift occurred because of the small risk that the weakened virus could mutate and take on characteristics of naturally occurring polio, then potentially spread to those who are unvaccinated, William Schaffner, professor of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University, told Axios. Samples of wastewater can't pinpoint individual cases but can give a clue about regional health threats. The surveillance has also been used in places like San Francisco to track monkeypox.
The public is both more acutely aware of these threats and able to more closely monitor the transmission after COVID, Schaffner said.
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