What Is Polio?
Poliomyelitis or polio is a acute viral infectious disease. It is spread through crowding, unclean conditions, and improper sanitation of waste fluids. During the early 20th century, polio devastated many populations around the world; thanks to vaccines developed in the middle of the century, polio is rare in first world countries. Unfortunately, lack of thorough vaccination in developing nations makes polio a recurring problem in these areas of the world.
The infection is caused by the poliovirus, a virus which attacks the digestive tract in human beings. There are three classes of polio; the most mild, type three, represents the bulk of polio infections. The patient may experience a general feeling of malaise and flu-like symptoms, but he or she may not even realize that these symptoms are the result of a polio infection. In more severe cases, polio gets into the bloodstream and starts to rapidly multiply, causing more serious health problems.
A more aggressive form of polio is focused on the spinal cord. It causes a condition known as aseptic meningitis, which can be very serious. The patient experiences the classic symptoms of meningitis, such as a fever and stiff neck, but the symptoms are caused by poliovirus instead of the bacteria and viruses more commonly associated with meningococcal disease. It can be treated by keeping the patient hydrated and rested, on a firm bed.
The most serious type of polio is associated with paralysis. About one percent of polio cases will result in a condition called flaccid paralysis, in which the virus interrupts muscle signals, causing muscles to grow slack and weak. In some cases, the body can naturally recover, growing fresh nerve cells to replaced the damaged ones. In other instances, permanent paralysis or disfigurement may result. If the polio reaches the brain or lungs, it can be fatal, as it will cause the patient to stop breathing. More aggressive therapy such as putting the patient on a ventilator may be required for survival.
When a polio outbreak is occurring, proper hygiene is crucial. The disease has a three to 12 day incubation period, so members of a household may already have it. To prevent the spread of the disease, water should be boiled before drinking, and the house should be kept scrupulously clean. Once a patient has been diagnosed with polio, he or she may face a lengthy period of physical therapy, if the infection takes a paralytic form.
In 1955, Jonas Salk developed a vaccine for polio, using deactivated virus. Albert Sabin followed in 1963 with an easy to administer oral active vaccine, which is also highly effective. Routine vaccination for polio is standard in many countries as a result.
What Causes Polio?
Many people ask, "What causes polio?" Polio has only one cause, which is an infection with the poliovirus.
What Causes Polio? -- Poliovirus
Poliovirus is a very contagious virus that can spread easily from person to person. In fact, when a person is infected with poliovirus, it is expected that polio transmission among susceptible household contacts will occur in nearly 100 percent of children and over 90 percent of adults.
Poliovirus is a single-stranded RNA virus from the family Picornaviridae and genus enterovirus.
Poliovirus only infects humans, and it is more common during summer months in temperate climates. In tropical climates, there is no seasonal pattern. The poliovirus is rapidly inactivated by heat, formaldehyde, chlorine, and ultraviolet light.
Ulcers can also be caused by anti-inflammatory medicines. Although most people take these medicines without problems, long-term use may damage the stomach lining and cause ulcers. Anti-inflammatory drugs include aspirin, ibuprofen (one brand name: Motrin), naproxen (brand name: Aleve), ketoprofen (brand names: Actron, Orudis KT) and some prescription drugs for arthritis.
What Causes Polio? -- Transmission
Polio is very contagious. When a person is infected with poliovirus, the virus resides in the intestinal tract and mucus in the nose and throat. Poliovirus is usually spread through contact with stool of the infected person (known as fecal-oral transmission). Less frequently, poliovirus is spread through contact with infected respiratory secretions or saliva (oral-oral transmission).
Following polio transmission, a person does not become immediately sick. A person who is infected with polio can spread polio about 7-10 days before symptoms begin. A person can continue to spread polio for about three to six weeks after the beginning of polio symptoms. However, a person is most contagious for the 7-10 days after symptoms of polio have begun.
Treatment for Polio
A minor outbreak of infantile paralysis (in Arkansas) may demonstrate something that doctors and parents everywhere very much want to know—how well the Kenny treatment of poliomyelitis works out in an epidemic. To Little Rock, where 25 children were down with polio, rushed a group of physiotherapists and nurses to whom the Australian nurse has been teaching her revolutionary exercise treatment (TIME, June 23, Dec. 15, 1941) in the Minneapolis General Hospital.
Kenny Cure. The patients were placed flat on their backs on a firm mattress which did not quite reach to the footboard of the bed. Their feet, with heels and toes stretching beyond the mattress, were set squarely against the footboard (so that the children could exercise, without effort, the muscular reflexes used for standing up). Their arms were kept at their sides, their knees straight. No splints or casts were used. Hot packs, made of pieces of blankets wrung out of boiling water, were laid on each child's twitching limbs, changed every two hours—in serious cases every 15 minutes.
In cases where the pain had subsided, the Minneapolis workers showed Arkansas doctors how to exercise the children's stricken muscles. Several times a day they flexed them through a limited range of motion. No massage was used. By the time the first, contagious stage of the disease is over, this treatment should relieve all pain and stiffness.
How It Works. What makes Sister Kenny's treatment so successful? This question has stumped doctors ever since her amazing number (80%) of recoveries forced them to recognize her unorthodox work. Last week Dr. Philip Moen Stimson of Cornell offered a "rationalization" of the Kenny method in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The polio virus, he wrote, does not always destroy all the nerve cells leading to the paralyzed muscles—but often sends the muscles into spasm, painful contraction or twitching. If spasm is relieved, the nerve cells which remain alive can substitute for those which have been destroyed. The danger of paralysis lies mainly in allowing spasm to continue.
The old method of splinting and immobilizing paralyzed limbs only aggravated these disorders. The peculiar advantage of Sister Kenny's method lies in her hot packs, which relieve spasm, her gentle, natural exercises, which work muscles back into normal coordination before dangerous new behavior patterns can be set up.