POLIOMYELITIS or POLIO

A: What is Polio?
1.0 Polio or Poliomyelitis is a disabling and life-threatening disease caused by the “Polio Virus” (PV)
2.0 The Virus spreads from person to person and can infect a person’s spinal cord, causing paralysis (can’t move parts of the body)

B: Symptoms

1.0 Post-Polio Syndrome (PPS) is a condition that can affect polio survivors decades after they recover from their initial PV infection.
2.0 Most people who get infected with PV (about 72 out of 100) will not have any visible symptoms.
3.0 About 1 out of 4 people with PV infection will have flu-like symptoms that may include:
I) Sore throat.
II) Fever
III) Tiredness
IV) Nausea
V) Headache
VI) Stomach pain

4.0 These symptoms usually last 2 to 5 days, then go away on their own.
5.0 A smaller proportion of people with PV infection will develop other, more serious symptoms that affect the brain and spinal cord:
I) Paresthesia (feeling of pins and needles in the legs)
II) Meningitis (infection of the covering of the spinal cord and/or brain) occurs in about 1 out of 25 people with PV infection
III) Paralysis (can’t move parts of the body) or weakness in the arms, legs, or both, occurs in about 1 out of 200 people with infection
6.0 Paralysis is the most severe symptom associated with polio, because it can lead to permanent disability and death.
7.0 Between 2 and 10 out of 100 people who have paralysis from PV infection die, because the virus affects the muscles that help them
breathe.
8.0 Even children who seem to fully recover can develop new muscle pain, weakness, or paralysis as adults, 15 to 40 years later.
9.0 This is called PPS.
10.0 Please note that “poliomyelitis” (or “polio” for short) is defined as the paralytic disease. So only people with the paralytic infection are considered to have the disease.
C: Transmission:
1.0 PV is very contagious and spreads through person-to-person contact.
2.0 It lives in an infected person’s throat and intestines.
3.0 PV only infects people. It enters the body through the mouth and spreads through:
4.0 Contact with the feces (poop) of an infected person.
5.0 Droplets from a sneeze or cough of an infected person (less common).
6.0 You can get infected with PV if:
I) You have feces on your hands, and you touch your mouth.
II) You put in your mouth objects like toys that are contaminated with feces.
7.0 An infected person may spread the virus to others immediately before and up to 2 weeks after symptoms appear.
I) The virus can live in an infected person’s feces for many weeks. It can contaminate food and water in unsanitary conditions.
II) People who don’t have symptoms can still pass the virus to others and make them sick.
D: Prevention & Treatment

1.0 There are two types of vaccine that can prevent polio:
I) Inactivated PV vaccine (IPV) given as an injection in the leg or arm, depending on the patient’s age. Only IPV has been used in the United States since 2000.
II) Oral PV vaccine (OPV) is still used throughout much of the world.
2.0 Polio vaccine protects children by preparing their bodies to fight the PV.
3.0 Almost all children (99 children out of 100) who get all the recommended doses of the inactivated polio vaccine will be protected from polio.

Shared by: MKR