Do adults need polio boosters if they were vaccinated as a child?

People were shocked when last week’s news broke it PolioA potentially helpless and life-threatening illness has been detected in New York.according to Joint press release Unvaccinated men in Rockland County were infected with the virus from people who received the oral polio vaccine (OPV) from the New York State Department of Health and the Rockland County Health Department. As a result, he developed an infection with what is known as vaccine-derived poliovirus (VDPV).

Vaccine-derived poliovirus is different from wild poliovirus, which was the virus that caused widespread panic in the United States in the 1940s. Vaccine-derived poliovirus is a strain of weakened poliovirus originally included in oral poliovirus vaccines. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

CDC explains that people who are immunized with an oral poliovirus vaccine can be excreted in stools and respiratory secretions (such as coughing and sneezing) and thus infect others. This is what happened in this case. As a result, the United States stopped using oral vaccines in 2000 and is now using inactivated poliovirus vaccines that do not contain a live version of the virus.

More from prevention

“Based on what we know about this case and polio in general, the Ministry of Health strongly recommends that unvaccinated individuals be vaccinated or boosted with an FDA-approved IPV vaccine as soon as possible. . “ State Health Commissioner Mary T. Bassett, MD, MPH said in a press release. “Polio vaccines are safe and effective and protect against this potentially debilitating disease. It is part of the necessary regular pediatric immunity backbone recommended by national health authorities and public health agencies. is.”

If you didn’t have polio vaccine as a child, it makes sense to get polio vaccine, but do adults need polio blaster? Do you need a polio booster while traveling? This is what infectious disease experts have to say.

So do you need a polio booster?

Back up the moment here. Polio vaccine is part of regular childhood vaccination. CDC recommendation Children receive four polio vaccines: 2 months, 4 months, 6-18 months, and 4-6 years old. If you had this as a child, you would be fully vaccinated against polio, said Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist and professor at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.

However, polio boosters are important. The CDC Adults who have previously completed the poliovirus vaccination series, “high risk of exposure to poliovirus,” say they can receive a single lifetime booster dose of poliovirus.

So who needs booster shots? The CDC List the following adults as they may need polio boosters:

• People traveling to countries at high risk of polio.
• People who work in the laboratory and work with specimens that may contain poliovirus.
• A healthcare professional who treats a patient who may be infected with polio or who may be in close contact with someone who may be infected with poliovirus.

“Most people were vaccinated against polio at an early age, so they don’t need polio boosters,” says Dr. Schaffner. “In general, there is no polio in the United States, and most parts of the world do not have polio, so people do not need boosters.”

I agree with Dr. Richard Watkins, MD, an infectious disease doctor and professor of internal medicine at Northeast Ohio Medical College. For most people, “you get a shot as a kid, and that’s it,” he says.

However, if you are traveling to regions of the world where wild polio is still prevalent, we recommend that you consider polio boosters, said Amesh A., a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Health and Security Center. Dr. Adalha, says. He lists countries such as Yemen, Israel, the Palestinian region, Ukraine, Pakistan and Afghanistan as countries where polio is still prevalent.

How to tell if you are vaccinated against polio

It’s probably been a minute since I was vaccinated as a child. If you haven’t visited the same doctor as you did when you were a kid, you may not know if you were actually vaccinated against polio as a kid. Still, Dr. Schaffner says it’s very likely that you received the shot.

“If it wasn’t up to date, I probably wouldn’t have been able to go to school,” he says. “Most schools in the United States have a” no shot, no school “policy for poliovirus. “

If you don’t know where you are, you can get a booster. “There is no danger in getting additional shots,” says Dr. Adalja. However, he adds, “most patients’ primary care physicians will have a record of polio immunity.”

What is polio?

Polio is a potentially damaging and life-threatening illness caused by the poliovirus. CDC.. In some cases, the virus can infect the human spinal cord and cause paralysis.

The outbreak of polio in the United States in the last 1940s has left more than 35,000 Americans disabled each year. CDC To tell. However, thanks to the success of the vaccination campaign, the country has been polio-free since 1979.

How is polio spreading?

Poliovirus spreads from person to person through contact with the feces of infected people and droplets from coughing and sneezing. CDC I will explain. When a person is infected, the virus can spread even before symptoms appear.

What are the symptoms of polio?

Most people infected with poliovirus have no visible symptoms, CDC However, about 25% develop flu-like symptoms. They include:

• sore throat
• heat
• Malaise
• nausea
• headache
• Stomachache

Less than 1% of people with poliovirus develop serious complications that affect the brain and spinal cord. They include:

• Paresthesia (feeling of foot pins and needles)
• Meningitis (infection of the spinal cord and / or brain covering)
• Paralysis (cannot move part of the body)

Again, Dr. Schaffner emphasizes that polio cases in New York are rare. “This is a very rare event and is limited to very conservative religious groups that are poorly vaccinated,” he says. “There is no danger of spreading to the general public.”