How to Prevent Polio – Channel 24

channel24.pk – Poliomyelitis or polio is a disease caused by the polio virus. Polio is a life-threatening disease because the virus spreads easily from person to person. Both adults and children can get polio. However, children under the age of 5 are at a greater risk of contracting polio.

There are 3 variants of poliovirus, namely strain 1 Brunhilde, strain 2 Lansig and strain 3 Leon, all of which belong to the Picornaviridae family. Polioviruses include Sabin vaccine poliovirus, wild poliovirus/WPV (wild poliovirus) and VDPV (vaccine-derived poliovirus). VDPV is a variant of poliovirus that can cause paralysis.

Type 2 and 3 wild polio have been eradicated or no longer exist. Meanwhile, type 1 wild polio only exists in parts of the world. Type 1 polio is most likely to cause paralysis. The incubation period for the polio virus is 3-6 days. Paralysis will then occur around 7-21 days. Source: https://scrubcapdesigns.com/ .

Symptoms of polio

Most people who are infected with polio do not develop obvious symptoms. However, 1 in 4 people (or 25 in 100 people) who are infected with polio develop flu-like symptoms, including:

• fever
• sore throat
• nausea
• Headache
• stomach ache
• Neck stiffness
• Leg pain

The above symptoms may last for 2-5 days. Then, it goes away on its own. Symptoms can progress to more severe ones that affect the brain and spinal cord. The symptoms of the disease depend on the type of polio virus that infects the patient. Some may cause meningitis (infection covering the spinal cord/brain), paralysis (inability to move body parts).

Paralysis is the most serious symptom of polio because it can lead to permanent disability and death. People who become paralyzed by polio can die because the virus affects their muscles and makes it impossible for them to breathe. Children who appear to have fully recovered may develop new muscle pain, weakness, or paralysis as adults. This condition may be called post-polio syndrome. For more information, visit https://www.thepatriotmilitia.com/ .

We can divide the symptoms of polio into several categories:

• Nonparalytic poliomyelitis: Polio can cause vomiting, muscle weakness, fever, meningitis, headache, stiffness and pain in the hands, neck, and back.
• Paralytic poliomyelitis: Polio can cause fever, headache, loss of body reflexes, weakness in the hands and feet, and muscle weakness.
• Post-polio syndrome: When polio symptoms return after a polio infection, this condition can cause difficulty concentrating, breathing or swallowing problems, muscle weakness, depression, easy fatigue, and loss of body muscle mass.
• Polio: A rare form of polio that mainly affects infants and causes swelling of the brain.

Polio vaccination

There is no cure for polio. How to prevent polio, including vaccination against polio virus. There are 4 vaccines that can prevent polio:

• Oral polio vaccine (OPV) is an effective vaccine that provides long-term protection against the virus. The vaccine is administered orally or as drops.
• Monovalent oral polio vaccines (mOPV1 and mOPV3), which provide protection against poliovirus type 1 (mOPV1) and poliovirus type 3 (mOPV3), were licensed in 2005 and will eventually elicit immune responses against other serotypes.
• The trivalent oral polio vaccine was subsequently replaced by the bivalent oral poliovirus vaccine (bOPV) in April 2016 to provide better protection against polio than the trivalent OPV, against poliovirus types 1 and 3. Unfortunately, it does not provide immunity against poliovirus type 2.
• Inactivated polio vaccine (IPV), a vaccine that contains polio virus strains types 1-3 that have been killed or contain inactive viruses. The vaccine is given in the leg or arm.

The polio vaccine is given at different ages. A dose of polio vaccine is given at 2, 4, 6 and 18 months (between 4 and 6 years of age). The polio vaccine protects children by preparing the body’s/natural immune system to fight the polio virus.