The coronavirus pandemic is not over yet and another virus threatens to turn the world upside down again.

In recent weeks, the first cases of polio in nearly a decade were reported in the United States.

The patient was identified as a 20-year-old man who traveled to Poland and Hungary earlier in the year, he told Washington Post sources close to the investigation. The man, who was not vaccinated against the virus, has been discharged and is at home with his family where he is having difficulty walking, the outlet reported.

Apparently the patient has Vaccine-derived viral variantspossibly from someone being vaccinated with a live vaccine — available in other countries but not in the United States — and passing it on, U.S. health officials say.

US asks its citizens to be vaccinated against polio

In a press release shared by Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, health officials asked medical professionals and other healthcare providers to be on the maximum warning for more cases.

“Based on what we know about this case and polio in general, the Ministry of Health strongly recommends that people who are not vaccinated get vaccinated or upgraded to the IPV polio vaccine as soon as possible,” said state Health Commissioner Mary Bassett in a statement.

State officials are working with the Rockland County Department of Health to have more polio vaccine availablesaid county health commissioner Patricia Schnabel Ruppert.

Polio was once one of the most feared diseases in the country, with annual outbreaks causing thousands of cases of paralysis, many of them in children.

Vaccines were available starting in 1955, and a national vaccination campaign reduced the annual number of cases in the United States to less than 100 in the 1960s and less than 10 in the 1970s, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC).

The United States declared polio to be eradicated in 1979.which means it no longer spreads on a regular basis.

Polio virus discovered in London

UK polio-free status can be found at risk for the first time in nearly two decades after they met, some polio virus sample derived from vaccines during routine tests london waste.

Several closely related viruses were found in samples taken in North and East London between February and May. Findings suggest some spread between closely related individuals and the virus continues to evolve and is now classified as vaccine-derived type 2 poliovirussaid the UK’s Health Safety Agency.

The health agency is working with other agencies, including the World Health Organization (WHO), to quickly investigate the matter and understand the extent of transmission.

The last case of wild polio in the UK was in 1984 and the country was declared polio free in 2003.

Wild poliovirus has been eradicated in most of the world except in Afghanistan and Pakistan, where they remain endemic. Vaccine-derived polioviruses, derived from the attenuated poliovirus contained in oral polio vaccines, are still causing outbreaks, most recently in Ukraine and Israel.

What is polio?

Poliomyelitis is crippling disease you life threatening caused by polio virusshows the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, for the acronym in English) page.

Virus spread from person to person and can infect the spinal cord causing paralysis.

What are the symptoms of polio?

Common symptoms of polio include sore throat, fever, fatigue, nausea, headache, and abdominal pain.

This discomfort lasts from 2 to 5 days and then goes away on its own. However, most people have no visible symptoms.

A much smaller proportion of those infected will be able to develop more severe symptoms such as: paresthesia (tingling sensation in the legs) meningitis (infection of the covering of the spinal cord and/or brain) or paralysis.

With information from AP and Bloomberg.