of prevention?
Polio is a viral disease, which is transmitted to the human body through the mouth, or hands contaminated with the stool of a person with the same disease.
This disease is more common in children and infants, and it also affects adults, but it is more severe, as this virus affects the spinal cord, resulting in severe muscle weakness causing paralysis.
According to the World Health Organization, I confirmed a number of regions where polio cases are still occurring, such as the continent of Africa and the Middle East region.
The spread of polio
Poliovirus, or poliovirus, is transmitted by direct contact, by feces, saliva, or phlegm, from the infected person to a healthy person by mouth, whether with contaminated water or food.
In this case, the symptoms of polio begin to appear, and the infection reaches its most severe stage 7 days to 10 days after the onset of symptoms, as the virus spreads from the mouth, to the intestine, lymph nodes, then to the blood, and from it to all parts of the body, up to Spinal cord.
This virus begins inside the spinal cord by attacking the neurons responsible for the movement of muscles in the front of the marrow, and then begins to transfer to white blood cells and then the spinal cord, which causes inflammation and destruction of nerve cells, resulting in soft paralysis of the legs, brain, and specifically in an area Cerebellum.
Types and symptoms of polio
The symptoms of poliomyelitis are categorized according to the type of disease, as shown
Simple paralysis: It is one of the types of the disease, which is in its early stages. Its symptoms are similar to those of the flu, which lasts for up to 10 days.
Among the most important symptoms are the following
Feeling tired and fatigued
Feeling a headache.
Pain in the throat.
Fever
Meningitis.
Vomiting and nausea
Severe paralysis: It is one of the rare types of poliomyelitis, as it does not exceed 1% of all other cases.
And its symptoms gradually, so that it increases and multiplies with the development of the disease, specifically after a week of the disease.
The symptoms of this type of disease are as follows
Muscle pain
Exposure to muscle strain and is of a dangerous type.
Failed reflex response.
Sudden paralysis, temporarily or permanently.
Inability of the limb muscles to tension.
Malformation of the limbs.
Post-polio syndrome: It is the condition in which the return of polio occurs after recovery from it, and results and studies have shown that this disease can return to the human being again, after recovery from it, with a rate of about 46%, especially in the period ranging between 15 To 40 years, from recovery.
Among the most prominent symptoms of this syndrome are the following
Increased feeling of muscle pain over time.
Feeling tired and fatigued for the simplest reasons.
Persistent muscle and joint weakness that was previously affected and persistent pain.
Breathing difficulty.
Difficulty swallowing
Intolerance of cold weather.
Sleep apnea.
Feeling pain in healthy body muscles.
Feeling depressed.
Loss of focus and poor memory.
Polio complications
There are a number of complications that may occur to children after polio, including
Pulmonary heart failure, inflammation of the heart
Pulmonary edema and pneumonia
Permanent muscle paralysis and loss of movement
Urinary tract infection.
Trouble breathing
Polio prevention
Scientists have not yet been able to discover a clear cure for poliomyelitis, but there is a vaccine discovered by two scientists, Jonas Solk and Albert Sabin, that works to neutralize the disease and get rid of it, so that the vaccine is taken in 5 doses for children under the age of 5 years.
These doses are given as follows
The first dose is taken by a child at the age of 45 days.
The second dose is obtained by a child at the age of 3 months.
The third dose, obtained by a child at the age of 5 months.
The fourth dose, obtained by the child at the age of one and a half.
The fifth and final dose, obtained by a child at the age of 4 years.
An additional dose, in addition to basic vaccines, for children through medical campaigns with the ministries of health.
It is mentioned that this vaccine has proven to be very effective over the past years since it was used to prevent polio, while a new vaccine has been reached that is given to the child by mouth, and has been adopted in more than 150 countries around the world, and has also proven effective in preventing disease .
Polio vaccinations
There are two types of polio vaccination, the role of which is focused on preventing and not treating the disease:
OPV vaccine
This vaccine is symbolized by the symbol "OPV", which is a vaccine prepared from the weakened polio virus, in order to prevent disease, by enhancing the ability of the immune system. This meeting is considered one of the most used vaccines in a large number of countries of the world, due to its ease of use and low cost. .
Intramuscular vaccine «IPV»
It is denoted by the symbol "IPV", and this vaccine is given to children by intramuscular injection, in the form of doses, and this vaccine was prepared from the inactive form of the polio virus.
This vaccine is considered the best in the United States of America, and one of the reasons for eradicating the disease in the past years.
Polio treatment
There is no cure for polio, so prevention is the only way to get rid of this disease that affects our children and affects them for life.
Polio treatment depends on taking some measures to reduce side effects and complications rather than treatment.
Among these measures are the following
Get medical doses of analgesics drugs under the supervision of a specialist.
Get enough rest.
Eat a healthy diet.
Follow a physical therapy program to reduce muscle anomalies.
Reducing infections associated with the disease with antibiotics, under medical supervision.
