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posted by hubie on Friday September 23 2022, @04:37AM   Printer-friendly

US officially added to WHO's list of poliovirus outbreak countries:

The United States, one of the world's richest and most developed countries, has met the World Health Organization's criteria to be listed as a country with circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Tuesday.

The US now joins the ranks of around 30 other polio outbreak countries, largely low- and middle-income, including Ethiopia, Mozambique, Somalia, and Yemen. Notably, the list includes just two other high-income countries—the United Kingdom and Israel—which have detected the circulation of a poliovirus strain genetically linked to the one spreading in the US.

[...] Inclusion on the WHO's polio outbreak list is a new low point for the US. On the one hand, it reinforces a key global public health message in the campaign to fully eradicate that virus, which is that "any form of poliovirus anywhere is a threat to children everywhere." But it mainly spotlights the dangerous foothold that anti-vaccine sentiments have gained in the country over the past several decades.

[...] Polio is a particularly prime target for anti-vaccine misinformation. Much of the poliovirus currently circulating in the world today—including in the US—is derived from oral vaccines, which use live, weakened poliovirus to spur immunity. Oral polio vaccines are highly effective at protecting against paralytic polio and are safe and affordable. But, if they're used in areas with low vaccination rates, the harmless, immunizing vaccine viruses can spread to others through poor sanitation and/or hygiene. If the vaccine continues to move from person to person, it can pick up mutations along the way that allow it to regain the ability to cause infection and paralytic polio. At this point, the vaccine virus is reclassified as a vaccine-derived poliovirus (VDPV).

The circulation of VDPV has been gobbled up by dangerous anti-vaccine advocates—such as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his organization, Children's Health Defense—who giddily tout the false claim that polio vaccines cause polio. To be clear, polio vaccines are highly effective at safely preventing polio. As always, the lack of polio vaccination causes polio outbreaks.

The US has not licensed or used oral polio vaccines since 2000. Instead, the US and many other high-income countries now use an inactivated polio vaccine, which does not include a live virus. Nevertheless, a VDPV is what is spreading in the US. [...]

Related:
    1st Polio Case Reported in US in Nearly a Decade Detected in New York State
    Poliovirus May be Spreading in London; Virus Detected in Sewage for Months
    Ohio Lawmakers Want to Abolish Vaccine Requirements


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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Booga1 on Friday September 23 2022, @07:13AM (6 children)

    by Booga1 (6333) on Friday September 23 2022, @07:13AM (#1273110)

    Andrew Wakefield, the disgraced former doctor, [wikipedia.org] may end up being one of the world's most dangerous men. While he doesn't have the direct body count of mass-murdering dictators, his anti-vax crusade is causing multiple generations of people to distrust vaccines of all types. His legacy of lies will be killing people for decades.

    We had polio all but stamped out in much of the world, and now it's back. Polio is insidious and can leave life-long deformities, organ damage, and crippling disabilities. Thanks, Andrew, for setting us back a hundred years or more.

    • (Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 23 2022, @07:33AM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 23 2022, @07:33AM (#1273112)
    • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 23 2022, @12:30PM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 23 2022, @12:30PM (#1273147)

      I would point out that, at least in the case of the UK (more specifically, the plague pit known as Londonistabistan), the last time I read anything about this, the strain they'd found was reckoned to have come from either a 'reactivated' vaccine or from a 'foreign' (non UK) vaccine.

      In either case, it's vaccine derived, rail against Wakefield as much as you like, however this shit cannot be laid at his door.

      A link to a bbc page, I see they mutter about foreign 'live virus' vaccinations, the VDPV narrative has been dropped then.

      https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-61896411 [bbc.co.uk]
      https://archive.ph/EdQjN [archive.ph] (archived copy of bbc link)

      • (Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 23 2022, @12:54PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 23 2022, @12:54PM (#1273155)

        It wasn't a big deal to be "anti-vax" for a long time. Health conscious lefty moms would be all over it. Working class people just took their shots. "Everyone" was against big pharma.

        Now that the barely functioning covid "vaccine" became sacred and the "current thing" you have to support, any kind of refusal became societal murder. Regardless that the polio came from foreign sources and is establishing in lefty cities.

        This story is a thing only to support that narrative. They don't care that there is a polio outbreak, they want to sell the next round of boosters. Look at all those anti-vaxers that caused polio to come back, you don't want to be one of them, do you?

        The article s even full on double think. Vaccine derived polio is spreading and proves some vaccines are good, some are not but it's all their fault. The FALSE claim that polio vaccines cause polio......

        The truth doesn't matter. It's to be marked troll and purged. The people who say it are to be ostracized and ejected from society. Are they even human?

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 23 2022, @01:36PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 23 2022, @01:36PM (#1273158)

          It was a tough call for them on this one,

          Publishing an article mentioning VDPV lets one cat out of the bag that they'd rather not have the great unwashed know about (as they're worried that people might start down the path of wrongthink...), so mentioning foreign 'live' vaccinations (with fingers pointing firmly and directly at the Indian subcontinent) isn't PC, but is/was their least worst option in this case, besides it being probably true.

          VDPV from UK vaccine (it does happen, historically at an extremely low rate) was on the table at the very start, then it was VDPV from an inferior foreign vaccine, now it's shedding from people who've had recent foreign live vaccinations...

  • (Score: 4, Touché) by Opportunist on Friday September 23 2022, @08:05AM (1 child)

    by Opportunist (5545) on Friday September 23 2022, @08:05AM (#1273119)

    I guess we have to see people in iron lungs again for some idiots to wake up. Some will wake up, the rest will server as more iron lung examples and we'll probably finally get back to being sane ... for another 50 years or so.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 23 2022, @06:51PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 23 2022, @06:51PM (#1273234)

      That and a few coat-hanger abortion unforseeable tragedies.

  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by PiMuNu on Friday September 23 2022, @10:17AM (2 children)

    by PiMuNu (3823) on Friday September 23 2022, @10:17AM (#1273134)

    From TFA
    > by documenting a patient with vaccine-derived poliovirus and having at least one environmental sample of vaccine-derived poliovirus
    > 57 positive samples [in wastewater]

    A single patient... who could not even be USian. Given the number of people travelling through and immigrating to US, some from low and middle income countries, this is more-or-less inevitable.

    Note waste water surveillance is new since covid. It is not clear which countries have deployed such surveillance. So the list of polio countries may just be the list of countries which have implemented such surveillance.

    • (Score: 1) by khallow on Friday September 23 2022, @11:53AM (1 child)

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Friday September 23 2022, @11:53AM (#1273144) Journal
      I read of similar waste water surveillance in Europe for covid.
      • (Score: 3, Insightful) by PiMuNu on Friday September 23 2022, @01:21PM

        by PiMuNu (3823) on Friday September 23 2022, @01:21PM (#1273157)

        May be true - nonetheless US is not terrible for vaccination rate - 93 % according to WHO, comparable to UK and Germany, low compared to France.

        https://ourworldindata.org/polio [ourworldindata.org]

        (chart 10)

        However, UK (and maybe US?) has had a big immigration from Afghanistan in the last 2 years and UK certainly has a large population of folks of Pakistani origin, who likely travel to that region more frequently. I would guess this is more significant effect than vaccination rates. None of this stuff is mentioned in the article.

  • (Score: -1, Flamebait) by Username on Friday September 23 2022, @01:45PM (4 children)

    by Username (4557) on Friday September 23 2022, @01:45PM (#1273162)

    When you import the world's unwanted people, you also get their disease.

    • (Score: 5, Insightful) by DannyB on Friday September 23 2022, @02:49PM

      by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Friday September 23 2022, @02:49PM (#1273182) Journal

      The stupid anti-vax government conspiracy crowd is home grown. So combine the two for best results.

      --
      People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
    • (Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 23 2022, @06:53PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 23 2022, @06:53PM (#1273235)

      Obesity? Heart disease? I don't see how invoking Americans is relevant.

    • (Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 24 2022, @05:16AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 24 2022, @05:16AM (#1273332)

      That's no way to talk about the Irish.

  • (Score: 2) by richtopia on Saturday September 24 2022, @11:59AM (3 children)

    by richtopia (3160) on Saturday September 24 2022, @11:59AM (#1273359) Homepage Journal

    I consider myself a bit of a prepper; I don't have a house in the woods but I try to be ready for real-world issues. This includes being proactive with vaccines. The one I'm missing is Yellow Fever... I should but the application is rough.

    Back on topic: if Polio is returning, can USA citizens proactively receive the vaccine? I'm a millennial, so it was considered eradicated when I was born.

    • (Score: 2) by ChrisMaple on Sunday September 25 2022, @06:38AM

      by ChrisMaple (6964) on Sunday September 25 2022, @06:38AM (#1273528)

      According to wikipedia, yellow fever vaccine has an approximately 3 PPM fatality rate. Think carefully about that if you live in an area where the disease is rare.

    • (Score: 2, Informative) by Bean Dip on Monday September 26 2022, @01:42PM

      by Bean Dip (5604) on Monday September 26 2022, @01:42PM (#1273710)

      Yes, you can get a polio vaccine in the US. I got one at my local CVS before a trip to Brazil a few years ago. It's not generally indicated for adults (not sure why), but they gave it to me anyway.

    • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday September 26 2022, @02:35PM

      by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Monday September 26 2022, @02:35PM (#1273715) Journal

      As a true prepper I would make sure to have Starlink so my internet cloud connected pet feeder will continue to work uninterrupted.

      I am a nutcase prepper and I'm proud
      I use to feel alone in a crowd
      but now you look around these days
      and it seem there is a nutcase prepper CRAZE

      I'm a prepper, he's a prepper, she's a prepper, we're a prepper
      wouldn't you like to be a prepper too?

      --
      People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
  • (Score: 2) by sjames on Saturday September 24 2022, @03:50PM

    by sjames (2882) on Saturday September 24 2022, @03:50PM (#1273408) Journal

    Those of us who have had our polio vaccinations are still OK. People here receiving their polio vaccinations are not a problem, the U.S. uses a killed virus vaccine. We may want to ammend vaccination requirements for visiting the U.S. to include a mandatory waiting period for shedding from live oral vaccine to stop.

    If we do that, the living polio virus in the U.S. should die off quickly due to not finding hosts.

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