Two weeks of testing wastewater samples from Kingston and New Paltz have turned up no trace of poliovirus, Acting County Exec Johanna Contreras announced Saturday.

According to Contreras, both the state Department of Health and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control analyzed samples taken from the two communities; testing for the virus will become part of the regular wastewater monitoring in both locales.

Polio, once a dreaded spectre over the lives of millions of Americans, especially the young, had been thought to have been eliminated in this country decades ago thanks to a widespread vaccination program. But that all changed when a July case of an unvaccinated Rockland County resident contracting paralytic polio prompted widespread testing of wastewater for traces of the virus, and the declaration of a state of disaster in New York earlier this month. So far, the virus has turned up in numerous downstate sewer systems, including Orange County's.

“Polio vaccination is the safest and best way to fight this debilitating disease and it is imperative that people in these communities who are unvaccinated get up to date on polio vaccination right away,” stated Dr. José R. Romero, director of CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, earlier this week. “We cannot emphasize enough that polio is a dangerous disease for which there is no cure.”

In a statement on Tuesday, the CDC summed up its wastewater analysis thusly: “These environmental findings provide evidence that the unvaccinated individual Rockland County resident with paralytic polio contracted the virus through local — not abroad or international — transmission and raise concerns about the potential for community spread of poliovirus that can cause paralysis in these communities. This underscores the urgency of every adult and child, particularly those in the greater New York metropolitan area, getting immunized and staying up to date with their polio immunization schedule.

“New Yorkers should know that these environmental findings do not indicate that the individual in Rockland County was the source of the transmission, and case investigation into the origin of the virus is ongoing.”

“We thank the New York State Department of Health and CDC for enabling proactive testing of our wastewater. The results are reassuring, and I want to assure Ulster County residents that we are doing everything in our power to protect public health,” Contreras stated.

“Polio is a highly contagious disease that was thought to have been controlled through the administration of a very safe, effective and proven vaccine. This is why the polio vaccine has been mandatory for all students attending public schools in New York State, for decades,” county Health Commissioner Dr. Carol Smith stated. “The recent polio case that was diagnosed in New York State occurred in an unvaccinated person. In general, communicable disease outbreaks occur in those locations that have below average child vaccination rates. While the polio testing results for Ulster County are negative, it doesn't mean that our community is immune from polio in the long term. Getting all of your children vaccinated is the best and only way to protect them from this serious disease. We urge every person to check with their physician’s office, to make sure that everyone in the family is up to date with polio, and all other essential vaccinations."

For more about polio and polio immunization, click here. For more information about wastewater surveillance and results, click here.