Taking a Look at Infantile Paralysis

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

With the last outbreak of Polio in the US being in 1979, many today have no recollection of the terror of this disease. The disease primarily infected children, and there seemed to be no pattern to who succumbed to it. No one could feel safe. Polio as a disease presents such horrors that even those who overcome it once can be plagued by its aftereffects in later life. Before vaccines, single outbreaks could devastate entire communities. One outbreak

There is no cure for polio. Your body will shut down and you will weaken, until you lose all muscle function. Tetanus is a serious bacterial disease that affects your nervous system, leading to painful muscle contractions, particularly of your jaw and neck muscles. (Mayo clinic staff, 2013) Tetanus can also lead to death. Meningitis is inflammation of brain and

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

Poliomyelitis, also commonly known as polio, is a viral infection that, at one point was virtually eradicated in the US (SOURCE). The last major epidemic of polio was in the early 1950's (SOURCE). Polio was characterized in one of three ways: nonparalytic

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 (polio) is an infectious disease caused by the polio virus and is spread from person to person through faecal-oral transmission which means; stool entering the mouth or consumption of food containing stool from an infection person. The poliovirus resides in the intestinal tract and mucus in the nose and throat. Contact with infected respiratory secretions or even saliva can cause poliovirus transmission. This mode of transmission is known as oral-oral transmission. Polio became prevalent in the United States of America (U.S) in the 1940s and 1950s.this was followed by outbreaks of the disease that crippled tens of thousands in North America. Polio eradication is aimed at reducing the global incidence of polio to zero through deliberate efforts to a point that it requires no further control. Polio eradication is to be achieved through interruption of endemic transmission of poliovirus through vaccination. This saw the wide use of the inactivated polio virus (IPV) that was administered orally (OPV); oral polio vaccine.

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).

Scientists have been trying to determine what caused the polio-like paralysis that first started with cold like symptoms. In an updated article in the San Francisco Chronicle, 2/27/2014, scientists believe there is a link with the virus Enterovirus D68 but the evidence is circumstantial. More research needs to be done to determine if the new strains of the old virus is causing polio-like paralysis in children (Allday, 2017). The CDC has reported this outbreak has occurred in more than 40 states and at least 200 cases reported. Research is finding the D68 enterovirus is related to the virus that causes unexplained paralysis in arms and legs. Researchers believe that once the enteroviruses move outside the gut or airways it can then go after the nerve cells in the spine that control

Poliomyelitis has been around longer than one can imagine. According to an article written by Rogers, polio first appeared in Norway and Sweden around 1870s and 1880s. Later on, paralytic polio outbreaks occurred in the United States during 1890s. Decades later, it became a major epidemic because lot of people became infected, many people died and some people developed disabilities (A Paralyzing Fear, 1998). Since the virus was discovered, scientists such as Brodie, Kolmer, Enders, Salk, Sabin, and Koprowski, had been trying to find a cure or a vaccine that could help stop the disease. The fight against polio and the search for a cure happened during one of America’s most important presidents who were infected with poliomyelitis. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who rescued the American people from The Great Depression and War World II, was a victim of this deadly virus.

Polio is an infectious disease that has killed and paralyzed many people (Birth of Jonas Salk and the death of polio in India). It has taken the lives of

Poliomyelitis popularly known as polio was first described by Michael Underwood in 1789. It is a highly infectious viral disease which mostly affects children. The virus is transmitted from person to person via fecal-oral route and less frequent by common vehicle route like contaminated water or food. Polio is a member of the enteroviruses which are transient inhabitants of the gastrointestinal tracts and stable at acid pH. The incubation period for poliomyelitis is 6 to 20 days with a range of 3 to 35 days. The preclinical phase of poliomyelitis varies from asymptomatic to presentation of mild systemic symptoms ranging from pharyngitis or gastroenteritis thus it can mistake at the initial stage as a minor infection. About 95%

During the twentieth century Americans were afraid. They were afraid of the Russians, they were afraid of the economy, they were afraid of Hitler, and they were afraid of polio. A disease as indiscriminate as a nuclear bomb, it struck young and old, rich and poor, white and black. It caused fear and hysteria, confusion and anger, paralysis, and even death. By this time the United States had endured smallpox, cholera, yellow fever, and tuberculosis; but it had never experienced a wide-spread epidemic of a disease that seemed to specifically target children before the twentieth century. Although polio effects people of all ages, children are the most susceptible due to their weak immune systems. Many victims of polio were partially or completely paralyzed, and thousands died. The “summer plague” would run rampant in the United States for nearly four decades.

The poliovirus is one of the most transmittable and most contagious viruses that the human population has come in contact with.  The structure of the poliovirus allows it to be able to bind to motor neuron cells within a host’s body and reproduce quickly. Like all virus’s, the poliovirus

But the last associated with many problems, First the live oral polio vaccine is known to be able to cause poliomyelitis in rare cases in both vaccines and their contacts (3). Second some hypogammaglobulinemic patients are known to excrete virus for long periods of time, giving opportunities for the virus to evolve to transmissible and virulent forms (9, 10). The aim of this study is showing of presence of wild and sabin (vaccine of poliovirus) in stools of many cases of children in Iraq and outbreak them.