I hesitate to call this good news, because it largely means that the disease has burned through all the available fuel in the area. There were some 1,500 confirmed cases, 2 children died, and who-know-how-many are going to suffer from immune amnesia or SSPE in the coming years. And it was all preventable. And the seeds are planted, folks.
Considering where we are in public health and disease control, it will only be a matter of time before one of these finds a fertile field to plant itself in.
Wasn’t there a small outbreak of polio in New York somewhere? I was worried that would spread but I haven’t heard much about it.
Yes, it was a few years back, left one patient paralyzed, then faded away. In an area with a pretty good background rate of vaccination, it’s tough for these things to catch fire, but they still can, and if they find an undervaccinated/unvaccinated population, you can get what TX, Ontario, Alberta and so on have been dealing with. Also, polio is not even in the same zip code as far as infectivity goes with measles. An effective sewage treatment / potable water treatment system can pretty much keep it in check.
Thanks for the clarification(s)!