Thanks so much for joining,
joining us here on 9 News Plus.
I'm Chris Bianchi,
now joined by Doctor Payal Kohli,
9 news health expert,
for a bit more specifically on polio.
Yes, that polio that we thought was
eradicated years and years ago.
Well, unfortunately there have
been traces of polio have been
found in wastewater in New York
City as well as traces of it
in London and in Jerusalem.
Vital to recognize that with global
travel being commonplace,
those who are unvaccinated
do have a real risk.
Of getting polio, Dr.
Coley didn't think here in 2022.
We talked about the potential
of polio spreading.
How is this happening?
Why is this happening,
and what's going on with this?
You know, Chris, my head is spinning
because as a medical expert, I have
never treated polio in my entire career.
And really, all of us thought that
it was eradicated because we had
such a highly effective vaccine.
So to see this kind of a resurgence
really begs the question of of if people
aren't getting vaccinated. For who?
And that's really opening the door for
this virus to sort of come back again?
As you know, polio has no treatments,
and so for us to sort of wake up
a sleeping virus like this just
because we aren't getting vaccinated.
To me, that's a really dangerous game,
and it should be a wake up call for
anyone who hasn't been vaccinated
against polio or kids that haven't been
to go and immediately get vaccinated.
Do we have an idea about what
percentage of the population
is vaccinated against polio?
You know, for a lot of schools,
it's a requirement to get into school.
So we're hoping that it's
a pretty high proportion,
but as we know there are a lot of
parents that homeschool their kids or
choose not to vaccinate their kids and
that's been a trend that's been growing
recently over the last decade or so,
and especially now on the
heels of the COVID-19 pandemic.
There is a little bit of a vaccine
fatigue that persists amongst adults
and even amongst parents deciding
to vaccinate their children.
So I fear that this this trend
of not vaccinating our children
against diseases that we know.
You know that they can.
Contract and can be eradicated
is growing overtime
goodness. That said, very basic
question here how those polio spread?
Yeah, so polio is a virus and it
spreads mainly through something
called fecal oral spread.
So that means you know contact with
contaminated water or wastewater.
So sewage and then some potential
contact with an oral route.
So polio lives essentially in
our mouth and our intestines.
But it gets into the body through the mouth,
and so as an example,
let's say you didn't completely
wash your hands and then you
shook hands with somebody else.
If you had polio shook hands
with somebody else,
and then they ended up touching their mouth,
that could be potentially a
way to transmit the virus.
It could also be, you know,
handling of contaminated wastewater.
It could occur through swimming pools,
for example.
If there are,
you know pieces of feces in there.
So there are lots of different
ways that it can spread.
There's also secondary way to spread,
because it's in droplets.
Through sneezes and coughs.
So the usual droplet spread
because it lives in our mouth.
So if somebody would polio sneezes
on you and then, you know,
you get a big viral dose basically
to your nose and mouth,
you can get it.
Now the interesting thing about
polio is that the majority of
people with polio are asymptomatic,
so they may not even know that
they have polio.
And it's really those complications
of polio that we fear the most
and the ability to transmit it.
And about 1/4 of people with polio do
end up having symptoms and those end
up being symptoms kind of of a cold.
You know, fever,
fatigue and malaise.
Those types of symptoms
and how often do those symptoms get to
the point to where people get paralyzed?
We think about, for example,
I think about Franklin Delano Roosevelt,
who is of course a paralyzed with polio.
How often does it get to that level?
It's rare, but it's not as rare
as it should be for this virus.
And to your point,
we've all seen pictures of people paralyzed,
so the complications that polio,
the initial infection won't kill you,
but it could turn into meningitis,
which is an inflammation of the.
In the lining around the brain and
the spinal cord and that could lead to
neurological complications that could
be permanent and potentially death.
It could turn into as you said
paralysis in the immediate infectious
period where you could, you know,
have paralysis not just of your muscles,
but potentially your breathing
muscles as well,
which could you know lead to
being dependent on a ventilator
or those types of complications,
and then the interesting thing with
polio is that there's a syndrome
called post polio syndrome,
where many years after contracting
polio and recovering from it.
You can develop paralysis and
problems with gait,
walking those types of things that can occur.
How worried are you based on
what you're seeing right now,
that this becomes a global
pandemic once again? You know, I'm
not so worried because thankfully most
of us are vaccinated and as adults
we've received at least, you know,
those 3 doses that we're supposed to receive.
Or as kids, we've received our
four doses that's considered fully
vaccinated and that offers a 99%
protection against polio infection.
Now if you've been incompletely.
Vaccinated? You're unvaccinated or you
have a high risk of exposure to polio,
meaning you're working with polio patients,
you've come into contact with
somebody with polio, or, you know,
you're handling wastewater
that might be contaminated,
like in New York City, for example.
Then I do think it's a good idea
to go get a booster to just kind
of boost your immune response.
Because when we got vaccinated
as children and now we're adults,
many years have gone by and some
of those antibodies could have
gone down in the in the meantime.
As the obvious lesson from
this is that everyone needs to
be vaccinated against polio,
is that the big take away?
Yes, and I, and I can't believe that
we're having this conversation because
this is a reflection of of sheer,
not her apathy. You know,
science has opened the door for
us to eradicate this illness,
which is terrible and traumatic and
has horrible long term consequences,
can even lead to death.
And yet we've we've kind of
let the virus wake up again,
because we've decided and
chosen not to get vaccinated,
not because we don't have the
supply of vaccine or access.
So I really hope that people take
this as a real wake up call that
their decision not to vaccinate
their child it it affects all
kinds of things and all kinds of
people and you really want to
be careful before you take that
kind of a decision lightly.
I add another take away and
get your opinion on it.
I mean we always want to wash our
hands but it feels to me between COVID
monkey pox and now polio that there is.
Doing the what you sing,
the Happy Birthday song and
you for 20 seconds wash your
hands is extra important now,
more than ever, perhaps
very much so.
And don't forget the flu and the flu.
Don't forget all the other cold viruses,
the adenovirus, rhinovirus and everything
else that's going to come this fall.
So I think that singing
Happy Birthday twice, twice.
I sing kind of fast so mine is twice.
And making sure when you wash
your hands you're just not just
doing this and sprinkling.
You're actually washing both surfaces.
You're washing your thumbs.
You know,
and then you're drying them thoroughly,
because wet hands are also a little
bit like a magnet and just kind
of getting in the habit of that.
I think that's one of the positive
changes that we've had from the
pandemic wearing the mask also
on planes or in public places.
If if you're comfortable doing that,
that's also, I think,
very positive thing to protect yourself
planes and something you specifically
cited there that's interesting to me.
Could you explain a bit more why
wearing masks on plane specifically
is the best place to do it?
Because, again, transparently,
I've heard about how.
Air recycles there a lot.
It does, but having said that,
you're sitting for a long period of time.
OK, you're in close contact with
people who are coming from all over
the country in the world who may
have had exposure to many others.
So contact tracing you
know is nearly impossible,
and there's a lot of touch surfaces
you're touching your seat belt.
You're touching your tray table.
You're touching armrest.
You're touching a lot of things
that other people have touched in
an unfamiliar environment where a
lot of people are coming and going.
So that is one of the places that
I definitely just to wear my mask.
And even though, yes, the air is supposed to.
Cycled and filtered and all
of that kind of stuff.
You know,
if somebody sitting directly in front
of you sneezes and you don't have a
mask on by the time 4 minutes goes by
and the air starts to get filtered,
those droplets will already
have aerosolized and spread.
OK, so wash your hands extra extra
intensely as opposed or extra well and
for the full allotment of time and also
of course wear a mask on a plane doctor.
Corey, thanks so much for your time.