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Polio and Prevention

Polio is a highly infectious viral disease that can cause paralysis and even death in some cases. There is no cure for polio, but vaccination provides safe and effective protection. The poliovirus is typically spread through contaminated food or water and multiplies in the intestines. While most infections cause no symptoms, it can potentially cause paralysis by invading the nervous system. Public health efforts aim to eradicate polio worldwide through comprehensive immunization programs to prevent transmission of the virus.

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Pintu Kumar
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147 views

Polio and Prevention

Polio is a highly infectious viral disease that can cause paralysis and even death in some cases. There is no cure for polio, but vaccination provides safe and effective protection. The poliovirus is typically spread through contaminated food or water and multiplies in the intestines. While most infections cause no symptoms, it can potentially cause paralysis by invading the nervous system. Public health efforts aim to eradicate polio worldwide through comprehensive immunization programs to prevent transmission of the virus.

Uploaded by

Pintu Kumar
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Polio and prevention

Polio is a crippling and potentially fatal infectious disease. There is no cure, but there are safe
and effective vaccines. The strategy to eradicate polio is therefore based on preventing infection
by immunizing every child until transmission stops and the world is polio-free.

The disease
Polio (poliomyelitis) is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus. It invades the nervous
system and can cause irreversible paralysis in a matter of hours.

Who is at risk?
Polio can strike at any age, but it mainly affects children under five years old.

Transmission
Polio is spread through person-to-person contact. When a child is infected with wild poliovirus,
the virus enters the body through the mouth and multiplies in the intestine. It is then shed into the
environment through the faeces where it can spread rapidly through a community, especially in
situations of poor hygiene and sanitation. If a sufficient number of children are fully immunized
against polio, the virus is unable to find susceptible children to infect, and dies out.
Young children who are not yet toilet-trained are a ready source of transmission, regardless of
their environment. Polio can be spread when food or drink is contaminated by faeces. There is
also evidence that flies can passively transfer poliovirus from faeces to food.
Most people infected with the poliovirus have no signs of illness and are never aware they have
been infected. These symptomless people carry the virus in their intestines and can silently
spread the infection to thousands of others before the first case of polio paralysis emerges.
For this reason, WHO considers a single confirmed case of polio paralysis to be evidence of an
epidemic particularly in countries where very few cases occur.

Symptoms
Most infected people (90%) have no symptoms or very mild symptoms and usually go
unrecognized. In others, initial symptoms include fever, fatigue, headache, vomiting, stiffness in
the neck and pain in the limbs.
Acute flaccid paralysis (AFP)

One in 200 infections leads to irreversible paralysis, usually in the legs. This is caused by the
virus entering the blood stream and invading the central nervous system. As it multiplies, the
virus destroys the nerve cells that activate muscles. The affected muscles are no longer
functional and the limb becomes floppy and lifeless a condition known as acute flaccid
paralysis
(AFP).
All cases of acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) among children under fifteen years of age are reported
and tested for poliovirus within 48 hours of onset.
Bulbar polio

More extensive paralysis, involving the trunk and muscles of the thorax and abdomen, can result
in quadriplegia. In the most severe cases (bulbar polio), poliovirus attacks the nerve cells of the

brain stem, reducing breathing capacity and causing difficulty in swallowing and speaking.
Among those paralysed, 5% to 10% die when their breathing muscles become immobilized.

Post-polio syndrome
Around 40% of people who survive paralytic polio may develop additional symptoms 1540
years after the original illness. These symptoms called post-polio syndrome include new
progressive muscle weakness, severe fatigue and pain in the muscles and joints.

Risk factors for paralysis


No one knows why only a small percentage of infections lead to paralysis. Several key risk
factors have been identified as increasing the likelihood of paralysis in a person infected with
polio. These include:

immune deficiency

pregnancy

removal of the tonsils (tonsillectomy)

intramuscular injections, e.g. medications

strenuous exercise

injury.

Treatment and prevention


There is no cure for polio, only treatment to alleviate the symptoms. Heat and physical therapy is
used to stimulate the muscles and antispasmodic drugs are given to relax the muscles. While
this
can
improve
mobility,
it
cannot
reverse
permanent
polio
paralysis.
Polio can be prevented through immunization. Polio vaccine, given multiple times, almost always
protects a child for life.

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