Science

First U.S. polio case in years sparks alarms from New York to California

Published

2 years ago

August 13, 2022

First U.S. polio case in years sparks alarms from New York to California

Delays in getting kids vaccinated through the COVID-19 pandemic and antivaccination sentiment typically could also be fueling essentially the most critical menace of polio within the U.S. in years, elevating alarms from New York to California.

In the previous few weeks, well being officers in New York recognized the primary individual in practically a decade within the U.S. to be identified with polio. The individual suffered paralysis. Since then, the polio virus has been present in wastewater not solely in two counties within the space the place the affected person lives but additionally, as of Friday, in New York Metropolis.

The virus could also be rebounding worldwide. The Jerusalem space this yr suffered an outbreak, and the virus confirmed up in London wastewater in June.

Now, well being specialists and officers in California are voicing concern.

Los Angeles County Public Well being Director Barbara Ferrer stated there’s dialogue about monitoring polio in wastewater, particularly in areas with low vaccination charges. This is sensible, specialists stated, given the excessive numbers of vacationers between Los Angeles and New York and since folks could be contagious with polio whereas having no signs.

“The detection of poliovirus in wastewater samples in New York Metropolis is alarming,” Dr. Mary T. Bassett, the New York State Well being Commissioner, stated in a press release. “For each one case of paralytic polio recognized, tons of extra could also be undetected.”

Well being officers in New York are “treating the only case of polio as simply the tip of the iceberg of a lot larger potential unfold. As we study extra, what we do know is evident: The hazard of polio is current in New York right this moment,” Bassett stated.

There is no such thing as a remedy for paralysis attributable to polio, stated Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, a UC San Francisco infectious-diseases professional. However polio could be prevented by immunization, which is greater than 90% efficient. Infants must be given three doses; a fourth is given to kids between 4 and 6.

About 75% of people that get contaminated with polio haven’t any signs; the others can have flu-like signs. It might take three to 6 days after publicity to the polio virus for nonparalytic signs to look. Paralysis can happen seven to 21 days after an infection.

Sufferers usually get contaminated by the mouth, sometimes by palms contaminated with an contaminated individual’s fecal matter, however the virus can even unfold by an contaminated individual’s sneeze or cough.

Paralysis or weak spot within the arms or legs can happen in 1 out of each 1,000 folks contaminated with polio, Chin-Hong stated. The illness could cause paralysis as a result of the virus can infect the spinal twine.

Between 2 and 10 of each 100 contaminated individuals who have polio-induced paralysis die, as a result of the virus can hurt the muscle mass that assist them breathe.

“Even kids who appear to totally get well can develop new muscle ache, weak spot or paralysis as adults, 15 to 40 years later,” the U.S. Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention says. This is called post-polio syndrome.

Chin-Hong stated the emergence of polio in New York is regarding sufficient for clinicians to familiarize themselves with the illness.

“We’re frightened, as a result of that is the primary case within the U.S. recognized in virtually 10 years,” Chin-Hong stated at a latest city corridor.

The case of paralytic polio occurred in Rockland County, a suburban space simply north of New York Metropolis. Rockland County is notable for having a big inhabitants of Orthodox Jews, amongst whom there are low immunization charges.

Outbreaks of infectious illnesses have hit Rockland County earlier than. In late 2018, the county was the epicenter of a big measles outbreak in Orthodox Jewish communities after being first detected in an unvaccinated teenager. The seven-month outbreak was the longest within the U.S. since 2000, based on a CDC report.

Moreover, giant outbreaks of COVID-19 have been noticed in Orthodox Jewish communities in Rockland County and in Brooklyn, linked to low charges of vaccination.

The polio affected person is a 20-year-old unvaccinated man who traveled to Hungary and Poland earlier this yr and was hospitalized in June, the Washington Submit reported, citing a public well being official who spoke on situation of anonymity. The New York Occasions reported that the affected person is a member of the Orthodox Jewish neighborhood.

Genetic evaluation of a polio virus pattern from the affected person signifies that it was picked up from an individual who had obtained the oral polio vaccine, which has not been used within the U.S. since 2000, well being officers stated.

The oral vaccine accommodates a weakened reside polio virus. “If allowed to flow into in under- or unimmunized populations for lengthy sufficient … the virus can revert to a kind that may trigger sickness and paralysis in different folks,” the CDC says.

Oral polio vaccine is utilized in components of the world as a result of it’s simple to manage, given within the type of drops.

Since 2000, the U.S. has used solely the inactivated polio virus vaccine, which can’t trigger illness.

Following the general public disclosure of the polio case, officers in New York started testing wastewater for indicators of virus in stool samples. This month, officers confirmed the presence of polio virus from wastewater samples collected in June and July in Rockland County and neighboring Orange County; they stated this was proof of native polio transmission.

The wastewater samples detected in each counties have been discovered to be genetically linked to the index polio case.

“For those who’re an unvaccinated or incompletely vaccinated grownup, please select now to get the vaccine,” Dr. Ashwin Vasan, commissioner of the New York Metropolis Division of Well being and Psychological Hygiene, stated in a press release. “Polio is fully preventable, and its reappearance must be a name to motion for all of us.”

The case in New York is genetically linked to polio samples recognized in Israel and Britain, well being officers stated.

The outbreak within the Jerusalem space started after an unvaccinated 3-year-old developed paralysis in February and was later publicly disclosed as having polio, based on the World Well being Group. Israel’s final prior polio case occurred in 1988.

Eight extra kids have since examined optimistic for polio, all asymptomatically. Of the 9 kids within the outbreak, eight weren’t absolutely vaccinated for his or her age group, based on Israel’s Ministry of Well being.

In keeping with the Jerusalem Submit, Israeli well being officers responded to the outbreak — which occurred in Orthodox Jewish areas — with a marketing campaign to encourage mother and father to get their kids caught up with vaccinations. By early July, the outbreak was deemed to be underneath management, with no polio virus present in sewage within the prior month.

In New York, Rockland and Orange counties have a number of the lowest charges of childhood polio vaccination, with solely about 60% of 2-year-olds having obtained three doses. The statewide polio vaccination charge amongst 2-year-olds is about 79%.

In New York Metropolis, about 86% of kids between 6 months and 5 years have obtained three doses. Vaccination charges are round 60% in some neighborhoods of Brooklyn, equivalent to Williamsburg and Bedford-Stuyvesant.

About 80% of a inhabitants must be vaccinated in opposition to polio to maintain the virus from spreading, Chin-Hong stated.

Unfold of polio might find yourself changing into “a phenomenon that we’re seeing as vaccination charges go down in communities,” Chin-Hong stated.

“I’m actually frightened as a result of, as we noticed in 2015, there have been poor vaccination charges in lots of communities,” he added, referring to the 2014–15 measles outbreak that started at Disneyland and unfold throughout eight states, Canada and Mexico, transmitted principally by unvaccinated folks. “We all know that the COVID-19 pandemic fueled the most important continued backslide in vaccinations in three a long time.”

A research revealed in October within the journal JAMA Pediatrics discovered that weekly pediatric vaccination charges in eight U.S. well being techniques have been considerably decrease throughout an early section of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Interventions are wanted to advertise catch-up vaccination,” the report stated.

In response to the 2014–15 measles outbreak, California handed laws barring vaccine exemptions, together with for polio, amongst schoolchildren primarily based on a mother or father’s beliefs. Medical exemptions are allowed.

Assessing California’s polio vaccination charge is hard, significantly amongst adults. However information accessible for school-age kids point out that the state’s protection is strong.

For the 2019–20 college yr, 96.5% of incoming kindergarteners have been absolutely vaccinated in opposition to polio, state figures present. That’s up from 92.6% within the 2013–14 college yr.

Information for newer years will not be accessible. The state Division of Public Well being notes that “routine vaccination charges in California, together with for polio vaccine, decreased through the preliminary interval of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

“As the brand new college yr approaches, greater than 1 in 8 kids in California have to make amends for routine vaccines that have been missed or delayed through the pandemic,” division officers wrote in a press release to The Occasions. “Longstanding college immunization necessities and different measures have assisted with catch up of wanted immunizations.”

As is at all times the case with a state as giant and various as California, general protection tells solely a part of the story. Within the 2019–20 college yr, fewer than 93% of incoming kindergartners in 10 counties — El Dorado, Glenn, Humboldt, Kern, Mendocino, Mono, Nevada, Santa Cruz, Sutter and Trinity — have been vaccinated in opposition to polio, state information present.

In Los Angeles, polio vaccine protection amongst kindergarteners has been round 97% “and hasn’t markedly modified over time,” based on the county Division of Public Well being. Nonetheless, information from the COVID-19 years will not be readily accessible.

Ferrer stated efforts are underway in L.A. County to work with pediatricians “to make it possible for we’re getting kids again in for his or her routine vaccinations.”

“We’re speaking about polio right this moment, however … due to the falloff in full vaccinations for youngsters through the pandemic, this may very well be any of a lot of infectious illnesses that previously we actually didn’t fear that a lot about,” the general public well being director stated. “So the large push proper now’s for us to ensure, once more, that households have good data, they’ve good entry.”

Science

2024 was the hottest year on record, NASA and NOAA confirm

Published

4 hours ago

January 11, 2025

Press Room

2024 was the hottest year on record, NASA and NOAA confirm

Amid a week of horrifying wildfires in Los Angeles, government agencies in the U.S. and around the world confirmed Friday that 2024 was the planet’s hottest year since recordkeeping began in 1880.

It’s the 11th consecutive year in which a new heat record has been set, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said.

“Between record-breaking temperatures and wildfires currently threatening our centers and workforce in California, it has never been more important to understand our changing planet,” Nelson said.

Firefighters on Friday were battling to protect NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge from the Eaton fire, which has burned 13,690 acres and roughly 5,000 buildings thus far.

Research has shown that global warming is contributing significantly to larger and more intense wildfires in the western U.S. in recent years, and to longer fire seasons.

The devastating fires in Southern California erupted after an abrupt shift from wet weather to extremely dry weather, a bout of climate “whiplash” that scientists say increased wildfire risks. Research has shown that these rapid wet-to-dry and dry-to-wet swings, which can worsen wildfires, flooding and other hazards, are growing more frequent and intense because of rising global temperatures.

Extreme weather events in 2024 included Hurricane Helene in the southeastern U.S., devastating floods in Valencia, Spain, and a deadly heat wave in Mexico so intense that monkeys dropped dead from the trees, noted Russell Vose, chief of the monitoring and assessment branch of NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information.

“We aren’t saying any of these things were caused by changes in Earth’s climate,” Vose said. But since warmer air holds more moisture, the higher temperatures “could have exacerbated some events this year.”

Last year’s data also notes a step toward a major climate threshold. Keeping the average global surface temperature from rising 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels has long been seen as necessary to avoid many of the most harrowing climate impacts.

NOAA pegged 2024’s global average surface temperature at 1.46 degrees C above its preindustrial baseline, and NASA’s measurements put the increase at 1.47 degrees C. In 2023, NASA said the temperature was 1.36 degrees C higher than the baseline.

Considering the margin of error in their measurements, “that puts the NOAA and NASA models comfortably within the possibility that the real number is 1.5 degrees,” said Gavin Schmidt, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies.

Calculations from other organizations passed the 1.5-degree mark more clearly.

Berkeley Earth and the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service both said the planet warmed to slightly more than 1.6 degrees C above pre-industrial times in 2024. The United Nations’ World Meteorological Organization said the increase was 1.55 degrees C and the U.K. Met Office, the country’s weather service, measured an increase of 1.53 degrees C.

Although 2024 probably marks the first calendar year in which the average temperature exceeded the 1.5-degree threshold, it doesn’t mean Earth has passed the crucial target set in the Paris Agreement, Vose said.

That describes “a sustained, multi-decade increase of 1.5 degrees,” something that’s not expected to occur until the 2030s or 2040s, the scientists noted.

“For a long time, the global mean temperature changes were a bit of an esoteric thing — nobody lives in the global mean,” Schmidt said. “But the signal is now so large that you’re not only seeing it at the global scale … you’re seeing it at the local level.”

“This is now quite personal,” he said.

The oceans, which store 90% of the planet’s excess heat, also recorded their highest average temperature since records began in 1955.

The Arctic has seen the most warming, which is concerning because the region is home to vast quantities of ice that stands to melt and raise sea levels, Schmidt said.

Temperatures there are rising 3 to 3.5 times faster than the overall global average, he added.

The only place where average surface temperatures have cooled is the area immediately around Antarctica, and that’s probably due to meltwater from shrinking ice sheets, Schmidt said.

A year ago, NOAA predicted there was only a 1 in 3 chance that 2024 would break the record set in 2023, Vose said. Then every month from January to July set a new high, and August was a tie. As a result, Friday’s declaration came as little surprise.

The longer-term trends are no better.

“We anticipate future global warming as long as we are emitting greenhouse gases,” Schmidt said. “That’s something that brings us no joy to tell people, but unfortunately that’s the case.”

Times staff writer Ian James contributed to this report.

Science

There's a reason you can't stop doomscrolling through L.A.'s fire disaster

Published

16 hours ago

January 10, 2025

Press Room

There's a reason you can't stop doomscrolling through L.A.'s fire disaster

Even for those lucky enough to get out in time, or to live outside the evacuation zones, there has been no escape from the fires in the Los Angeles area this week.

There is hardly a vantage point in the city from which flames or plumes of smoke are not visible, nowhere the scent of burning memories can’t reach.

And on our screens — on seemingly every channel and social media feed and text thread and WhatsApp group — an endless carousel of images documents a level of fear, loss and grief that felt unimaginable here as recently as Tuesday morning.

Even in places of physical safety, many in Los Angeles are finding it difficult to look away from the worst of the destruction online.

“To me it’s more comfortable to doomscroll than to sit and wait,” said Clara Sterling, who evacuated from her home Wednesday. “I would rather know exactly where the fire is going and where it’s headed than not know anything at all.”

A writer and comedian, Sterling is — by her own admission — extremely online. But the nature of this week’s fires make it particularly hard to disengage from news coverage and social media, experts said.

For one, there’s a material difference between scrolling through images of a far-off crisis and staying informed about an active disaster unfolding in your neighborhood, said Casey Fiesler, an associate professor specializing in tech ethics at the University of Colorado Boulder.

“It’s weird to even think of it as ‘doomscrolling,’ ” she said. “When you’re in it, you’re also looking for important information that can be really hard to get.”

When you share an identity with the victims of a traumatic event, you’re more likely both to seek out media coverage of the experience and to feel more distressed by the media you see, said Roxane Cohen Silver, distinguished professor of psychological science at UC Irvine.

For Los Angeles residents, this week’s fires are affecting the people we identify with most intimately: family, friends and community members. They have consumed places and landmarks that feature prominently in fond memories and regular routines.

The ubiquitous images have also fueled painful memories for those who have lived through similar disasters — a group whose numbers have increased as wildfires have grown more frequent in California, Silver said.

This she knows personally: She evacuated from the Laguna Beach fires in 1993, and began a long-term study of that fire’s survivors days after returning to her home.

“Throughout California, throughout the West, throughout communities that have had wildfire experience, we are particularly primed and sensitized to that news,” she said. “And the more we immerse ourselves in that news, the more likely we are to experience distress.”

Absorption in these images of fire and ash can cause trauma of its own, said Jyoti Mishra, an associate professor of psychiatry at UC San Diego who studied the long-term psychological health of survivors of the 2018 Camp fire.

The team identified lingering symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety both among survivors who personally experienced fire-related trauma such as injury or property loss, and — to a smaller but still significant degree — among those who indirectly experienced the trauma as witnesses.

“If you’re witnessing [trauma] in the media, happening on the streets that you’ve lived on and walked on, and you can really put yourself in that place, then it can definitely be impactful,” said Mishra, who’s also co-director of the UC Climate Change and Mental Health Council. “Psychology and neuroscience research has shown that images and videos that generate a sense of personal meaning can have deep emotional impacts.”

The emotional pull of the videos and images on social media make it hard to look away, even as many find the information there much harder to trust.

Like many others, Sterling spent a lot of time online during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Back then, Sterling said, the social media environment felt decidedly different.

“This time around I think I feel less informed about what’s going on because there’s been such a big push toward not fact-checking and getting rid of verified accounts,” she said.

The rise of AI-generated images and photos has added another troubling kink, as Sterling highlighted in a video posted to TikTok early Thursday.

“The Hollywood sign was not on fire last night. Any video or photos that you saw of the Hollywood sign on fire were fake. They were AI generated,” she said, posting from a hotel in San Diego after evacuating.

Hunter Ditch, a producer and voice actor in Lake Balboa, raised similar concerns about the lack of accurate information. Some social media content she’s encountered seemed “very polarizing” or political, and some exaggerated the scope of the disaster or featured complete fabrications, such as that flaming Hollywood sign.

The spread of false information has added another layer of stress, she said. This week, she started turning to other types of app — like the disaster mapping app, Watch Duty — to track the spreading fires and changing evacuation zones.

But that made her wonder: “If I have to check a whole other app for accurate information, then what am I even doing on social media at all?”

Science

Pink Fire Retardant, a Dramatic Wildfire Weapon, Poses Its Own Dangers

Published

1 day ago

January 10, 2025

Press Room

Pink Fire Retardant, a Dramatic Wildfire Weapon, Poses Its Own Dangers

From above the raging flames, these planes can unleash immense tankfuls of bright pink fire retardant in just 20 seconds. They have long been considered vital in the battle against wildfires.

But emerging research has shown that the millions of gallons of retardant sprayed on the landscape to tame wildfires each year come with a toxic burden, because they contain heavy metals and other chemicals that are harmful to human health and the environment.

The toxicity presents a stark dilemma. These tankers and their cargo are a powerful tool for taming deadly blazes. Yet as wildfires intensify and become more frequent in an era of climate change, firefighters are using them more often, and in the process releasing more harmful chemicals into the environment.

Some environmental groups have questioned the retardants’ effectiveness and potential for harm. The efficiency of fire retardant has been hard to measure, because it’s one of a barrage of firefighting tactics deployed in a major fire. After the flames are doused, it’s difficult to assign credit.

The frequency and severity of wildfires has grown in recent years, particularly in the western United States. Scientists have also found that fires across the region have become faster moving in recent decades.

There are also the longer-term health effects of exposure to wildfire smoke, which can penetrate the lungs and heart, causing disease. A recent global survey of the health effects of air pollution caused by wildfires found that in the United States, exposure to wildfire smoke had increased by 77 percent since 2002. Globally, wildfire smoke has been estimated to be responsible for up to 675,000 premature deaths per year.

Fire retardants add to those health and environmental burdens because they present “a really, really thorny trade-off,” said Daniel McCurry, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Southern California, who led the recent research on their heavy-metal content.

The United States Forest Service said on Thursday that nine large retardant-spraying planes, as well as 20 water-dropping helicopters, were being deployed to fight the Southern California fires, which have displaced tens of thousands of people. Several “water scooper” amphibious planes, capable of skimming the surface of the sea or other body of water to fill their tanks, are also being used.

Two large DC-10 aircraft, dubbed “Very Large Airtankers” and capable of delivering up to 9,400 gallons of retardant, were also set to join the fleet imminently, said Stanton Florea, a spokesman for the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho, which coordinates national wildland firefighting efforts across the West.

Sprayed ahead of the fire, the retardants coat vegetation and prevent oxygen from allowing it to burn, Mr. Florea said. (Red dye is added so firefighters can see the retardant against the landscape.) And the retardant, typically made of salts like ammonium polyphosphate, “lasts longer. It doesn’t evaporate, like dropping water,” he said.

The new research from Dr. McCurry and his colleagues found, however, that at least four different types of heavy metals in a common type of retardant used by firefighters exceeded California’s requirements for hazardous waste.

Federal data shows that more than 440 million gallons of retardant were applied to federal, state, and private land between 2009 and 2021. Using that figure, the researchers estimated that between 2009 and 2021, more than 400 tons of heavy metals were released into the environment from fire suppression, a third of that in Southern California.

Both the federal government and the retardant’s manufacturer, Perimeter Solutions, have disputed that analysis, saying the researchers had evaluated a different version of the retardant. Dan Green, a spokesman for Perimeter, said retardants used for aerial firefighting had passed “extensive testing to confirm they meet strict standards for aquatic and mammalian safety.”

Still, the findings help explain why concentrations of heavy metals tend to surge in rivers and streams after wildfires, sometimes by hundreds of times. And as scrutiny of fire suppressants has grown, the Forestry Service has set buffer zones surrounding lakes and rivers, though its own data shows retardant still inadvertently drifts into those waters.

In 2022, the environmental nonprofit Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics sued the government in federal court in Montana, demanding that the Forest Service obtain a permit under the Clean Water Act to cover accidental spraying into waterways.

The judge ruled that the agency did indeed need to obtain a permit. But it allowed retardant use to continue to protect lives and property.