Taking a Look at Polio

Polio an American story is a scholarly readable and informative book which covers the lives of many American eminent scientists who struggled a lot to eradicate polio. This book mainly focuses on the mid twentieth century where the people are very eager to find a vaccine to eradicate polio .This book also covers the entire topics from appearance of polio symptoms to post polio syndrome which shows the valuable thesis done by David M. Oshinsky.

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 was a highly infectious disease that spread through many Americans in the early 20th century. As a matter of fact, over 3,000 Americans died of the disease each year. Families were overwhelmingly desperate for doctors to find a cure. When one suffered from polio, they generally experienced painful symptoms which included not only fatigue and muscle weakness, but even death. Therefore, when the polio vaccine was introduced by scientist Jonas Salk in 1953, it greatly contributed to Americans in numerous positive ways. Environmentally, the vaccine saved countless young American lives affected by the disease thus decreasing American mortality rates. Socially, the polio vaccine convenienced families who were either directly afflicted

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

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

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

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.

When hygienic conditions were poor polio attacked infants. The disease was spread by contaminated water and contact with fecal contamination. Many infants died when the conditions were poor. But as conditions improved the virus spread differently. It was spread more through playmates and family members, the contamination came from the

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.

Poliovirus first enters the human body through the mouth. Next, the virus resides in either the person’s throat or intestines. For the virus to spread, it would have to be transmitted via feces and/or by the droplets of an infected individual. (Kids Health 1) Only human beings can be affected by the poliovirus. (Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention 2)

Vaccine-derived polioviruses: This is a very rare strain of poliovirus that is create by the mutation of the virus in the OPV. The OPV enters the intestine and multiplies. After it get absorbed into the bloodstream it activates the immune system. When the patient is excreting the virus it can change and be genetically altered. To get paralysed from this type of poliovirus is very rare. THe paralytic type of vaccine-associated poliomyelitis only occurs in 1 of 2.7million. If a community is not fully vaccinated then the viruses will survive longer and will undergo more mutations as long as it is being spread around. If there is a case of vaccine-derived poliovirus, the oral vaccine will be given to prevent the spread of the disease from the patient.

“ I got it [polio] when I was a little girl. My parents watch as I slowed down and my hand stopped working. We couldn’t afford the surgery to fix it, but I finally better. But my hand is a constant remember, but I refuse to let it stop me.”(6) Poliomyelitis, deriving from Greek meaning grey and marrow. Which more than likely refers to the spinal cord, along with the suffix –itis or inflammation.(4) For a time, Poliomyelitis was once was called infantile paralysis because of its primary effects on children; However, Poliomyelitis was later shortened into Polio.(4) Polio is an extremely infectious disease caused by a virus that can attack the nervous system. The Polio can survive and thrive in the throat and intestinal tract of it’s host.(5) It’s most often spread through personal contact with the excrement of an infected person.(5) Also, it is possible that the virus may be spread through bodily fluids, such as saliva. While 95 percent of persons infected by the poliovirus will have no symptoms;(4) four to eight percent of infected with the polio virus have minor symptoms such as: Fever, Fatigue, Nausea, Headache, Flu-like symptoms, Stiffness in the neck and back, and Pain in the limbs.(5) These symptoms will usually subside after 2 to 5 days.

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

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