Polio in New York: 'We Simply Cannot Roll the Dice'

For every reported case of polio, hundreds more people may be infected, health officials said.

“I urge New Yorkers to not accept any risk at all,” said Bassett.

Polio is a viral disease thatdisabled more than 35,000 people each yearin the 1940s before there was a vaccine.

It was declared eliminated from the US in 1979.

Most peoplewho contract polio have only mild or no symptoms, but others can become paralyzed or die.

But polio is a vaccine-preventable disease, and most adults today were vaccinated against polio as children.

It’s also arequirement for attending public schoolsin New York.