Polio Or Poliomyelitis : An Infectious Disease That Is Caused By The Poliovirus

Nobody has ever discovered completely how it is that polio is spread. The best evidence suggests that the virus is excreted in the stool and passed through hand to hand or hand to mouth contact by people who do not wash their hands properly or often enough. It was during the first few years of the fifties and many years before then, that health department officials

Poliomyelitis (polio) is a disease that attacks the nervous tissue in the spinal cord and the brain stem resulting in paralysis (Document One). Polio is caused by the poliovirus, but it is unknown how this virus is acquired. The virus enters the digestive tract and stays in the intestines for up to eight weeks, and then attacks the lymphatic system, the blood stream and eventually travels to the brain and spine (Document Four). Once it is infected in one’s body, the disease is highly contagious and can be spread through contact of saliva, food, germs, or feces (Document Two). “The poliovirus causes most of its infections in the summer and fall. At one time, summer epidemics of polio were common and greatly feared” (Document Four). This may

The last cases of naturally occurring paralytic polio in the United States were in 1979, when an outbreak occurred among the Amish in several Midwestern states. From

All three strands attack the nervous system and the digestive tract, making fecal matter and vomit infectious. Polio may also be contracted through contaminated food or water. Due to the highly infectious nature of the poliovirus, epidemics were rampant in poor communities and among young children attending school. Epidemics swept the nation during the 1930s, 20s and 10s. People lived in fear of their children contracting such a harmful illness. Schools and swimming pools were closed in order to prevent the spread of the virus (Last). Mothers were warned against breastfeeding, as the virus had the potential to be spread through breast milk

Polio, short for poliomyelitis, is a disease caused by the contraction of the poliovirus. Like influenza, smallpox and cholera, polio is a viral infection. This means that it is a disease caused by the spread of a virus. It spreads rapidly, and usually through person-to-person contact. In addition, this virus can also be distributed through foods or drinks contaminated by infected fecal matter. Although polio is deadly, sometimes, contractors of polio do not show any symptoms. The

The infection is caused by poliovirus. The disease was not known to be contagious until 1905. Most patients are infectious anywhere between seven to ten days, however a patient is still potentially contagious if the virus is present in the throat and feces. The infection can also spread through contact through saliva, but this is less likely. Incubation period for this disease is anywhere between six and twenty days. Around one out of four people with the poliovirus will have flu like symptoms including: sore throat, fever, tiredness, nausea, headache and stomach pain. These symptoms usually last two to five days and usually go away on their own. But some people infected with the poliovirus will develop more serious symptoms that affect the brain and spinal cord. Symptoms like: paralysis, meningitis (an infection in the spinal cord and/or brain), and paresthesia (feeling of pins and needles in the legs). Paralysis can lead to permanent damage and even death. Death is possible because the virus damages the muscles that make it possible to

Poliomyelitis, also called “infantile paralysis” (Swanson 1), is a virus that has been around for over 3,000 years, but had troubled scientists right up until the early 1900s when they had the resources to fully research it. This virus is part of the enterovirus division, meaning it attacks through oral ingestion and gains access to the body along the gastrointestinal tract (the tract that leads from the mouth to the anus). From the G.I. tract, it then enters the blood, through which it travels to and attacks the nervous system. Once the virus fully destroys a neuron, the neuron then cannot regenerate and therefore ends the connection between the other neurons around it. This left the infected hosts with twisted limbs, extreme muscle pain and spasms, and, in extremely severe cases, the inability to perform vital life functions. Polio can be classified into three different types, depending on which part of the nervous system it decides to attack. Spinal Poliomyelitis was the most

Unvaccinated children are not only at great risk for dangerous infectious diseases, but they also pose a serious threat to the well-being of society as a whole. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) recommends that all children receive a series of twenty-four vaccinations, protecting against fourteen diseases, by the age of two. These are essential for additional immunization requirements later in life for attending public schools as well as a variety of occupations working with the general public. Parents should be required to follow these recommendations, without exception.

Post-Polio syndrome is a musculoskeletal problem which occurs after an individual has had polio (LaRocco, 2011). There are about 440, 00 people that survived polio (LaRocco, 2011). It is estimated that between 15% and 80% of people with polio will have post-polio syndrome. Post-polio syndrome generally occurs 15 years after the polio virus has subsided (LaRocco, 2011). The symptoms are muscle weakness, atrophy, pain, fatigue, and cold sensitivity. Fatigue can impair cognition as well as other symptoms (Grafman et al., 1995). The symptoms can come on slowly or quickly. Medications haven’t been proven to work well in treating the muscle symptoms, but rehabilitation may help (LaRocco, 2011). Pain and the psychiatric problems are important to control. Medication such as aspirin, hot pads and cold pads can help alleviate pain. Post-Polio syndrome is not usually life threatening (LaRocco, 2011).

Poliovirus in the nervous system leads to paralytic polio—the most devastating form of the disease. The onset of paralysis can be rapid, but the severity depends on the number of neurons affected. There is no cure for the disease, and victims may be left with permanent consequences from their illness. Post-polio syndrome may affect polio survivors, even those with benign initial manifestations, years after recovery from their initial insult. Although rarely life-threatening, post-polio syndrome results in weakening of previously affected muscles causing significant interference with the individual's ability to function independently.

This disease has killed and paralyzed many. One of polio’s fatal symptoms is paralyzing muscles that help you breathe (“Polio Vaccine”).

The virus that I had for this project was the virus Polio. The scientific name for this virus is poliomyelitis. poliomyelitis was discovered in 1908 by Karl Landsteiner and Erwin Popper. They discovered the infectious disease was infact polio. They even went as far as taking the spinal cord fluid from a person, who in fact had the disease, and they injected it into a monkey and that monkey was infected with the Polio Virus. They were further able to find that the muscle paralysis was linked to the polio virus. Even though they knew the virus was polio, they could not physically see the disease until the 1950’s due to the invention of the electron microscope. Polio is a Rna based Virus that infects the muscle system on your body that can have

Poliomyelitis, often called polio or infantile paralysis, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. Approximately 90% to 95% of infections cause no symptoms.[1] Another 5 to 10% of people have minor symptoms such as: fever, headache, vomiting, diarrhea, neck stiffness and pains in the arms and legs.[1][2] These people are usually back to normal within one or two weeks. In about 0.5% of cases there is muscle weakness resulting in an inability to move.[1] This can occur over a few hours to few days.[1][2] The weakness most often involves the legs but may less commonly involve the muscles of the head, neck and diaphragm. Many but not all people fully recover. In those with muscle weakness about 2% to 5% of children and 15% to 30% of adults

B. Signs and Symptoms: Approximately 95 percent of people who are infected with poliovirus will not have any symptoms, however, people who are infected and do not have any polio indicators can still spread the poliovirus. People who become infected with the poliovirus can start having symptoms as soon as four days after being infected, and not have any symptoms for as many as thirty five days. This time period between infection and experiencing symptoms is referred to as “The Incubation Period,” which is when the virus begins to multiply within the cells that line the back of the throat, nose, and intestines(“Signs and symptoms of Polio.” eMedtv.com. Clinaero Inc., 2006-2012. Sunday 4-22-12). For the

Polio, full name poliomyelitis, has been a dangerous disease ever since its first appearance in the late 18th century. It has taken many people’s lives throughout the course of history. The virus’s shape is a circular-shaped agent which has spikes sticking out of various areas of this virus. Some interesting facts about this dangerous virus is that in the early and mid 1900s, there were at least 5,000-10,000 deaths per year, and vaccines didn’t come out until the 1950s. Also, today almost every country on Earth has eradicated this disease except for Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Nigeria, which shows how the vaccines were and are very essential to get rid of the disease for everyone. In addition, this disease was famous for infecting Franklin Delano Roosevelt.