What is polio and how dangerous it is

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

The disease can permanently paralyze or even kill.

What is polio

Polio / Mayo Clinic polio is a viral infection that damages the nerves that go to the muscles. Because of this, it can cause paralysis, and in severe cases, even death. Most often, children get polio, but adults can also get it.

In developed countries, due to compulsory vaccination, infection is very rare. According to statistics Poliomyelitis / WHO World Health Organization, 80% of the world's population lives in polio-free regions. But in countries such as Nigeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan, the virus continues to spread. And from there it can go to other regions.

How do you get polio?

The virus is transmitted by Polio / Cleveland Clinic from a sick person or a carrier who is not sick himself, but can infect others. The microorganism lives in the nasopharynx, therefore, when sneezing or coughing, it spreads through the air. And infection also occurs through dirty water, food or hands, since the virus is in the feces.

After the microorganism enters the nasopharyngeal mucosa, the Acute Poliomyelitis / Medscape incubation period lasts for 1-3 weeks. At this time, the virus simply multiplies in the cells. And when he comes out of them, the person becomes infectious to others.

From the pharynx, viruses enter the lymph nodes, and then into the blood. Then the infection spreads to peripheral nerves and even to the brain, where the microorganism continues to multiply in neurons.

What are the symptoms of polio

The more cells the virus damages, the more serious the symptoms of the disease. Nevertheless, in 95% of people, the infection clears up with Acute Poliomyelitis Clinical Presentation / Medscape without being noticed and without consequences.

Non-paralytic poliomyelitis

This is a mild variant of the disease. Symptoms are similar to those of a flu or a cold and last 1–2 weeks:

• headache;
• temperature rise to 38–40 ° С;
• sore throat;
• vomit;
• pain and stiffness in the muscles of the neck and back;
• muscle weakness.

Sometimes irritability, anxiety and emotional instability may appear.

Paralytic poliomyelitis

The initial signs of the disease are the same as in the previous version. Then, during Acute Poliomyelitis Clinical Presentation / Medscape 48 hours, the muscles become very weak and begin to ache. Moreover, this is more pronounced in the legs than in the hands. Often the sick person cannot stand, and his body is gradually paralyzed. This condition can persist for days or weeks, and it takes months or even years to recover.

Some people feel a tingling sensation in their muscles. Sometimes it seems like goosebumps are running. But at the same time, a person does not experience pain from touching the skin, as is the case with other brain lesions.

Bulbar poliomyelitis

This variant of the disease occurs when the virus infects a certain part of the medulla oblongata, located at the junction of the brain into the spinal cord. This form of poliomyelitis is especially dangerous, because the medulla oblongata contains neurons that control the heart rate, respiration and vascular tone. Bulbar type of pathology is more often observed in adults. Children are more likely to develop the disease if they have previously had their adenoids or tonsils removed.

The symptoms of bulbar poliomyelitis are as follows: Acute Poliomyelitis Clinical Presentation / Medscape:

• difficulty swallowing;
• weak hoarse voice and timbre change;
• hiccups;
• slow or shallow breathing;
• cyanosis, or blue discoloration of the skin and mucous membranes.

Encephalitis form

This type of poliomyelitis is very rare in Acute Poliomyelitis Clinical Presentation / Medscape. This is a severe brain damage, in which a person first becomes extremely emotional and fussy, makes sudden movements, talks a lot, and then falls into a stupor, to whom he can die.

Why is polio dangerous?

If, with the paralytic form of the disease, do not move the joints for several months, contracture will appear. This is the name of immobilization, which occurs due to the growth of scar tissue and muscle shortening.

With bulbar poliomyelitis, the lungs work worse, the bronchi become clogged with mucus and respiratory failure develops. And if the control of the brain over the vessels is lost, then pressure surges begin to threaten life.

40% of people who have had polio / Cleveland Clinic with noticeable symptoms and recovered may develop post-polio syndrome. It begins with the Post-Polio Syndrome Information Page / National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke with muscle weakness and extreme fatigue. Then the muscles gradually atrophy and become smaller. Because of this, the joints change and hurt, the skeleton is deformed and scoliosis develops.

Post-polio syndrome sometimes appears even 40 years after the infection. And the harder it was, the more noticeable the complication will be.

How to know if you have polio

If the symptoms listed above appear, you urgently need to go to a therapist, and in the case of children, to a pediatrician. The doctor can make a preliminary diagnosis at the Polio / Mayo Clinic based on the symptoms of the disease. But to confirm poliomyelitis, a virological study is carried out. You will need to rinse your throat and take the resulting liquid for analysis, as well as prepare a stool sample. In severe cases, blood or cerebrospinal fluid is taken. The latter is obtained by puncture of the spinal cord in the lumbar region, or lumbar puncture.

Sometimes a PCR test is used to diagnose Acute Poliomyelitis Workup / Medscape poliomyelitis. In the blood or cerebrospinal fluid, they look for the DNA of the virus and determine its type.

How is poliomyelitis treated?

There is no cure for it, so doctors set a goal to support a person's life, alleviate his condition and help recover from an illness. In severe cases, when the patient cannot breathe on his own, he is placed in intensive care and connected to a ventilator.

Medicines

Polio / Cleveland Clinic relieves muscle pain with over-the-counter pain relievers. And with strong tension, antispasmodics are used.

Orthopedic care

To avoid Acute Poliomyelitis Treatment & Management / Medscape the appearance of contracture, the limbs are fixed with special splints. These are rigid metal or plastic devices to which the leg is bandaged in a normal position. The procedure is needed to avoid curvature of the limbs.

Physiotherapy and exercise therapy

Acute Poliomyelitis Treatment & Management / Medscape muscles can be relaxed and pain relieved by warming compresses. And to maintain and restore joint mobility and maintain blood flow in the muscles, they are engaged in physiotherapy exercises and massage.

Classes with a speech therapist

People with bulbar polio develop Acute Poliomyelitis Treatment & Management / Medscape with voice and speech problems. Therefore, a speech therapist deals with patients, who helps to restore the lost functions.

Surgery

It is needed Acute Poliomyelitis Treatment & Management / Medscape if a person develops joint contracture against the background of poliomyelitis. To restore normal position of the limb and its mobility, the doctor may remove scar tissue, dissect tendons or altered muscles.

How not to get polio

The best prevention method is vaccination. It reliably protects against infection with Vaccine (Shot) for Polio / National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. In Russia, vaccinations are done according to the approved schedule Appendix No. 1 to the order of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation of March 21, 2014 No. 125n. National vaccination calendar:

• At 3 and 4, 5 months - inactivated vaccine. This means that it contains a killed virus.
• At 6, 18, 20 months - a live vaccine is used, which contains a weakened virus. But children with developmental defects, diseases of the nervous system, immunodeficiency, hemophilia, intestinal pathology, oncology are still injected with the inactivated variant.
• At 6-7 and 14 years old - they perform revaccination against poliomyelitis according to the same principles as in the previous paragraph.

If a person, for some reason, did not receive a vaccination in childhood, it can be done at Polio / Cleveland Clinic at any other age. For this, the first dose of the inactivated vaccine is first administered. After 1-2 months - the second, and after another 6-12 months - the third, already alive and weakened.