Doctor issues warning on risk of polio in New York

Dr. Marc Siegel, a clinical professor of medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center and a Fox News contributor, issued a warning on Friday about the rising risk of polio in New York amid the migrant crisis.

In 2022, the first case of polio in New York since 1990 had been detected. According to the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the polio virus was not only found in an unvaccinated adult in Rockland County, but was also found in several wastewater samples from communities near the adult’s residence. In the late 1940s, more than 35,000 people were paralyzed from polio in the U.S. every year, according to the CDC. But the vaccine in 1955 dramatically reduced the spread of the disease to less than 100 cases annually by the 1960s. The virus had also been eliminated from the U.S. by 1979, though sporadic cases that originated abroad have been identified over the years.

Polio symptoms include fatigue, fever, headache, stiffness, muscle pain and vomiting. It can take up to 30 days for symptoms to show. It can also lead to permanent paralysis of the arms and legs, and even death in some cases.

Since the influx of migrants coming into the U.S. over the past year, public health concerns have increased as unvaccinated migrants have been fueling a rise in diseases such as chickenpox.

In the first 11 months of 2023, at least 2,953,676 migrants crossed either of the United States’ southwestern or northern borders, according to data from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). That’s an increase from recent years that has created a headache for President Joe Biden, who has faced attacks from Republicans about border security.

During an interview appearance on Fox News’ The Ingraham Angle, Dr. Siegel discussed on Friday the influx of migrants and said that the crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border can also mean an increase in polio cases due to unvaccinated migrants.

“You just heard that half of the migrants, most of them pouring across the border, not vaccinated against polio. We saw a case in New York State of polio first since the 1970s. Wastewater in New York is now loaded with polio and even if you had a polio vaccine you can still carry polio. I look at history through a medical lens and I grant that this is a national security emergency at the border, but it’s also a public health emergency,” Dr. Siegel said.

Newsweek has reached out to the New York State Department of Health and the White House via email for comment.

Dr. Siegel, who specializes in internal medicine and treats conditions such as influenza, also explained that the under-vaccinated population adds to these public health concerns.

“We see chickenpox emerge because people are under vaccinated during the pandemic, but when I talk to the top vaccine expert in the country, Paul Offit from Penn, I ask what keeps him up at night. I thought he was going to say a bioengineered virus, he said measles. Measles because 22 million children in the world are not vaccinated fully against measles last year,” he said.

Due to unvaccinated migrants, nearly 400 cases of chickenpox in Chicago have been identified so far this year, with November and early December specifically marking an increase in cases, according to a health alert released by the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) on December 15. From 2005 to 2022, the city averaged 53 cases of chickenpox per year.

As city officials across the country grapple with the influx of migrants who have been bused to several major cities, many officials say they lack the resources to cope with the increase. In Chicago, more than 25,000 migrants have arrived since August 31, 2022, according to city data.

A spokesperson for the CDPH told Newsweek earlier this month in a statement that their team is working to provide infection control guidance to shelters.

“The Chicago Department of Public Health has a team dedicated to detecting and responding to reportable communicable diseases in shelters and other congregate settings. Cases of varicella have been reported in new arrivals, and in response the team has consulted with shelter managers and other facilities to provide infection control guidance,” the statement said.