Chicago to start monitoring wastewater for polio

As part of expanding its sewage surveillance program, the Chicago Department of Public Health will begin testing for poliovirus, according to a March 17 NBC report. NBC 5 Chicago.

The samples will be taken from reclamation plants that serve Chicago and the surrounding suburbs, the city said in a statement given to the news agency. The expansion is a proactive attempt to improve the region’s ability to detect and respond to potential cases. Health officials stressed that no cases have been found in either Chicago or Illinois at this time.

In November, the CDC announced plans to expand sewage testing for polio in parts of the country to determine if the virus is circulating outside of New York City, where an unvaccinated man in Rockland County contracted paralytic polio last summer. The virus was also found in sewage samples in several other New York counties, leading to a state of emergency that expired in December as positive sewage samples declined.