Michigan to begin testing wastewater for polio
Kristen Jordan Shamus
Detroit Free Press
December 1, 2022
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Wednesday it will begin testing wastewater samples for polio in Michigan and Pennsylvania as part of an effort to target parts of the country with low poliovirus vaccination rates and connections to New York communities where the virus was identified over the summer.
Testing will begin in a few weeks and is likely to include sewer samples from Oakland County, said Chelsea Wuth, a spokesperson for the state health department.
"Oakland is preliminarily where we are looking in consultation with CDC due to history of (vaccine-preventable disease) outbreaks," she said. "But we continue to triangulate where we have low coverage, risk of importation, previous vaccine-preventable disease outbreaks and appropriate sewer sampling locations."
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Michigan is at risk for polio cases
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About one-third of Michigan toddlers are not up to date on the primary childhood vaccine series — which includes immunizations for polio, measles, tetanus, whooping cough, hepatitis and pneumonia, according to the Michigan Care Improvement Registry. That means they're at risk.
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