the centers for disease control and prevention has deployed a federal team to new york to investigate the case of polio detected in rockland county in rare cases the virus can be spread when an unvaccinated person is exposed to contaminated fecal matter more what to know about vaccinederived polio after rare case found in new york this is different from wild polio which infects people by circulating naturally in the environment its unclear how long the cdc will remain in the county or if the findings will be released to the public cdc continues to collaborate with the new york state department of health to investigate a recent case of paralytic polio in an unvaccinated individual from rockland county the federal health agency said in a statement to abc news coupled 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 on july 21 the new york state health department announced a patient in rockland county had contracted a case of vaccinederived polio the first case in the united states in nearly a decade the statewide rate of polio vaccination is 7896 while the rockland county rate sits at 6034 state data shows last week the state health commissioner said hundreds of people in new york could be infected after the virus was found in wastewater samples in multiple counties the statement continued we must meet this moment by ensuring that adults including pregnant people and young children by 2 months of age are up to date with their immunization the safe protection against this debilitating virus that every new yorker needs the team will also help administer vaccinations in the county these individuals might have no symptoms or only mild symptoms such as a sore throat and fever but they can unknowingly still spread polio to those who are not protected by vaccination he was diagnosed after he went to the hospital when he developed paralysis in his legs in orange county the rate is even lower at 5866 more what to know about vaccinederived polio after rare case found in new york 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 bassett said in a statement thursday a sign marks the entrance for the center for disease control cdc headquarters in atlanta ga august 6 2022 anadolu agency via getty images this means the unvaccinated patient was infected by someone who received the oral polio vaccine which is no longer used in the us unlike the polio vaccine given by injection which uses an inactive virus the oral vaccine uses a live weakened virus new york state health commissioner dr mary bassett called on anybody who hasnt received the polio vaccine to do so editors note this story has been updated to clarify how polio can be transmitted although no