Polio And Its Symptoms

The dangers presented by polio can be understood by the fact that it is contagious. It is a bad history with thousands of people succumbing to it and not being able to live a normal life or meeting death. Seeing the potential it could cause, its vaccination developed in the year 1955 was made compulsory for everyone soon polio was eliminated from the face of the western hemisphere. The eastern however could not keep up because of the increased beliefs in superstitions and myths. Even now, visiting a country prone to polio is dangerous which is why, people who do go to such places are advised to take booster shots as precautions.

Make a search and you would find that more than 3000 cases of polio deaths were reported in the years when this disease was in its prime. This figure was reached after more than 60,000 got affected by it in the United States of America alone. Yes, the figures are alarmingly huge and in most of the regions, it was termed as an epidemic. Polio is not like a normal cold which does not have any lasting effects on the body once a person is cured. It has the ability to leave the victim permanently disabled due to one of several body parts rendered useless with the destruction of the nervous system.

The symptoms of polio can broadly be classified into 3 distinct types. A majority of the people (approximately 90% - 95%) would not witness any of these. Rest of the (5% - 10%) may witness one of the following:

a) Mild flu with problems in the respiratory track, fever and diarrhea. Again, they might go unnoticed by a lot of people as they assume it to be a minor viral infection.

b) A severe form of polio is when there are minor pain in the neck and other body parts. This is due to the nervous system getting affected and the patient feeling partial illness.

c) The most severe is when the patient loses control of the body part(s). Fortunately, the chances of acquiring this is very rare (approximately 1%) and hence a reason for respite.

People who suffer from the first two forms of polio have the possibility of full recovery while those who belong to the 1% category cannot do much. If they are lucky, they might survive with a non working limb whereas the others may die due to internal organ failure. The virus enters the body through the oral cavity and rests in the intestines. If it stays there and does not come out, it may be either the first or the second form, whereas if it does manage to come out, it becomes the third form.

Because the respiratory tract does get affected, a majority of the deaths is due to failure of the same which ultimately causes lack of oxygen supply. The nerves making heart beat along with compression and decompression of diaphragm possible may get compromised in such a case.