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NYC officials detect polio in wastewater, urge vaccination

Health officials have detected polio in the wastewater in New York City, a development that portends community spread of the virus in a densely populated part of America that suffered greatly from COVID-19 and is the epicenter of the monkeypox outbreak.

State and city health officials said sewage samples sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the presence of the virus, which can cause paralysis and death.

Health departments identified one case of vaccine-derived poliovirus in Rockland County, New York, last month but the samples suggest the virus could be pinging around the Big Apple, too.