CT has been testing wastewater for polio as New York faces state of emergency

In light of polio being detected in various New York communities, Connecticut has been testing the wastewater in some local municipalities to ensure the life-threatening disease has not yet reached this state.

A case of polio was detected in Rockland County in July - the first case in the United States in nearly a decade. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a disaster emergency on Sept. 9 when polio was detected in wastewater samples across Rockland, Orange and Sullivan counties north of New York City and Nassau County on Long Island.

The state Department of Public Health has collected 87 samples of wastewater from May through August to test, according to spokesman Christopher Boyle. Those samples, all of which were negative, came from  Ansonia, Bridgeport, Danbury, East Norwalk, New Haven, New London, Norwich, Stamford, Stratford and Waterbury.

Wastewater testing is one of the best ways to check for poliovirus. The vast majority of polio cases are asymptomatic. Polio spreads through fecal contamination of water and is shed by the digestive system. If wastewater surveillance is done routinely, active, asymptomatic polio infections would probably register in wastewater before anyone would appear in the hospital.

But to keep a handle on polio wastewater testing, and vaccination, are crucial. The state of emergency in New York is in part intended to increase the rate of polio vaccination. Regular vaccination, especially among children was disrupted by the pandemic. 

The United States has now joined a list of 30 other countries, largely former European colonies in Africa, where the live-attenuated poliovirus has escaped from the vaccinated population into the unvaccinated population where it recirculates and reinfects.