Polio is a viral disease. It cripples thousands of people and infects even more every year. Even though millions are inoculated, and the polio disease has been successfully purged from hundreds of countries still thousands of people and developing countries are infected and still people are dying. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) polio affects the Central Nervous System, or CNS; by infesting the intestines and transmitting it into the nerves thought the blood vessels. There the virus spreads through the nerve cells to the brain stem or other motor units, while forever damaging the nerves. Symptoms of this plague are fever, fatigue, headache, vomiting, and stiffness in the neck and pain in the limbs. But even though the polio virus does have symptoms about 90% of people do not experience any symptoms at all, which makes them very susceptible to unknowingly spreading the disease to love ones or strangers playing in his poop. Of those infected with polio only .05% of people come out with any major paralysis. And of the people that have been paralyzed only 5% to 10% will died from the respiratory system being paralyzed. Polio is transmitted from person to person through direct contact to the virus, and because the vast majority of people affected by polio are in developing countries, people don’t wash their hands after handling the disease which provides it another way of transmitting it. And because the disease lives in the intestine for the majority of its life, the only way to directly contact the virus is through stool samples. Doctors can tell that the disease affecting a person is polio through the symptoms and a stool sample. (Who, 2014). The polio virus can be transmitted through contaminated water and food o... ... middle of paper ... ... damaged neurons. (Mayo clinic, 2014). This is called neuroplasticity, the ability for the nerves to compensate for damage caused by some outside force. Because of neuroplasticity physical training works to cure some of the paralysis left by the virus and allows us to walk again after the legs or another appendage is deformed or damaged. Fifty-nine years after the vaccine was introduced to the world, the number of cases of outbreaks has dropped 99% and only three countries still remain in an epidemic state with the virus, Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan. In 1994, the WHO Region of the Americas was certified polio-free and in in 2013 only406 reported cases were existent in the world, compared to the 350 000+ cases in 1988. (Who, 2014). So it is clear that the vaccine is working, and a plan of action to completely eradicate polio from the world by 2018 or 2020.
In the United States there was a vicious enemy everyone feared. In the 1950s the United States was under attack by the ruthless Poliomyelitis virus. Americans lived in constant fear of their children contracting this horrible virus that left many children paralyzed. During the outbreaks in the 1950s foundations were created to fund research and create awareness to help find a way to eradicate the virus. Americans become focused on doing anything in their power to fight this virus off. Jonas Salk’s Exploration of Medicine and research led to the creation of the Polio vaccine that united the country, prevented further outbreaks, and introduced a new form of treatment which has limited the fatality of polio infections today.
Polio, formerly known as poliomyelitis, an infectious viral disease that affects the central nervous system and can cause temporary or permanent paralysis. A debilitating disease that was once the affliction of our very own republic. David Oshinsky’s Polio: An American Story chronicles polio’s progression in the United States, a feat it does quite well throughout the course of the novel.
Poliomyelitis was the term used by doctors to describe the condition in which the gray (polios) anterior matter of the spinal chord (myelos) was inflamed (-itis). Until a cure was discovered, no one had the slightest idea where "polio" had come from or why it paralyzed so many children. People learned later that, oddly enough, it was the improved sanitary conditions which caused children to be attacked by the virus. Since people were no longer in contact with open sewers and other unsanitary conditions which had exposed them to small amounts of the polio virus as infants, when paralysis is rare, the dis...
Poliomyelitis is a virus that infects the nerves of the spinal cord, and brain which leads to paralysis and or death (Piddock, 2004). Poliomyelitis is best known today as Polio, and Infantile Paralysis. Tonsillectomy polio would take over the lymph nodes in order to spread the infection throughout the body, leading to muscle paralysis in the limbs, and in some cases respiratory failure. Bulbar polio was a much more severe form, it affected the top of the spinal cord which caused paralysis and inability to swallow fluids (Rifkind, 2005). Polio was transmitted through ingesting materials contaminated by the virus found in feces. Children would play in public swimming pools, and ingest the contaminated water which lead to infection (Piddock, 2004). After the person ingested the virus, it would travel their intestinal tract, and eventually compromise their lymph nodes, making them unable to fight off the virus. Symptoms were like those of the flu, such as fever, headache, and upset stomach. The minority of people were able to let the virus run its course and it would be passed through their feces like any other virus. Others weren’t so lucky, those with compromised immune systems were unable to fight off the virus, the lymph nodes would fail to protect the nervous system causing paralysis once it reached the spinal cord (Piddock, 2004). Poliomyelitis has since then been eliminated in the United States because of the polio vaccine that is giv...
Vaccines have been used to prevent diseases for centuries, and have saved countless lives of children and adults. The smallpox vaccine was invented as early as 1796, and since then the use of vaccines has continued to protect us from countless life threatening diseases such as polio, measles, and pertussis. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (2010) assures that vaccines are extensively tested by scientist to make sure they are effective and safe, and must receive the approval of the Food and Drug Administration before being used. “Perhaps the greatest success story in public health is the reduction of infectious diseases due to the use of vaccines” (CDC, 2010). Routine immunization has eliminated smallpox from the globe and led to the near removal of wild polio virus. Vaccines have reduced some preventable infectious diseases to an all-time low, and now few people experience the devastating effects of measles, pertussis, and other illnesses.
In Conclusion, Understanding Polio’s etiology, history and epidemiology, as well as proper treatments will assist in avoiding its return. Although polio has been known to substantially affect a wide population in a small amount of time, eradication of this disease may also be accomplished in a short period of time. Scientists and medical professionals continue to research this disease in order to better understand and maintain it for many years to come. There are still aspect of the disease people do not understand that may be vital for the future of a polio-free world.
Could you imagine being stricken by a deadly virus, that if you survived, you would not be able to walk without any assistance? In 1938, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s personal struggle with infantile paralysis led him to create the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (NFIP) which would help find a treatment for infantile paralysis, which is better known as polio. This virus was usually contracted during childhood, and attacked the central nervous system, which if the victim did survive, he or she would then usually suffer from debilitating paralysis well into their lives. Major polio epidemics had been very prevalent in many parts of the United States since the late nineteenth century, but the poliomyelitis virus has since been mostly eradicated in the United States. Although, polio has been mostly eradicated in the United States, this virus is still very prevalent in developing countries throughout the world. This foundation has since been given the name March of Dimes, which was coined early in the foundation’s history. Although, March of Dimes now focuses on the prevention of premature births, birth defects, and infant mortality, when it first was created, its original mission was to raise funds for a poliomyelitis vaccine and, once the vaccine was created, to prevent the negative effects of the vaccine.
There are three types of Polio; Sub-Clinical, Non-Paralytic, and Paralytic. Approximately 95% of Polio cases are Sub-Clinical, victims may not have symptoms. Sub-Clinical Polio does not affect the central nervous system. Non-Paralytic does infect the central nervous system, has mild symptoms, and does not end in paralysis. Out of the three types of Polio the most serious and rarest form of Polio is Paralytic. It produces full or partial paralysis in its victims. There are three types of Paral...
As a researcher, his main goal was to find a cure for cancer. The first discovery was made in 1952, in the developing field of virology. Virology is the study of viruses and how they behave. To develop the vaccines for the viruses, researchers infected the HeLa cells with many types of infections, such as measles, mumps, and the infamous poliomyelitis virus, also known as Polio. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), whose mission is to save lives and protect people’s health, Polio is a "crippling and potentially deadly infectious disease caused by a virus that spreads from person to person, invading the brain and spinal cord and causing paralysis" (Freeman).
Polio: An American Story describes a struggle to find a vaccine on polio through several researchers’ lives, and over the course of many years. The second thesis is the struggle between Salk and Sabin, two bitter rivals who had their own vaccine that they believed would cure polio. The author David M. Oshinsky, is describing how difficult it was to find the cure to a horrifying disease, which lasted from the Great Depression until the 1960’s. Oshinsky then writes about how foundations formed as fundraisers, to support polio research. Lastly, the author demonstrates how researchers were forced to back track on multiple occasions, to learn more about polio.
Moreover polio is a deadly disease that is caused by a highly contagious virus entering the nervous system in the brain or spinal cord causing temporary or permanent paralysis. There are three
Many people think that some diseases like polio are no longer around. This is not true.
Many people come to the United States of America in order to live freely and make choices based on their personal morals. Considering the fact that America is known for being the “land of the free”, people should be able to choose whether or not they want to get vaccinated. People should have the right to reject vaccinations for whatever reason it may be, whether it’s religious beliefs, health concerns, or lack of belief in the vaccination systems. Personally, Vaccinations have benefited me and my health, and I choose to get vaccinated. I choose to get vaccinated because I strongly believe in a way it helps build my immune system and keeps me from getting sick or catching diseases. However, people have different beliefs than mine. Therefore
Vaccinations have significantly reduced the disease rate throughout the world. Usually, vaccines prove to be between 90 and 99 percent effective. This reduces disease and mortality rate by thousands every year (Jolley and Douglas 1). On average, vaccines save the lives of 33,000 innocent children every year (“Vaccines” 1). In addition, if a vaccinated child did contract the vaccine’s targeted illness, that child would, in general, have more mild symptoms than an unvaccinated child that contracts the same illness. These vaccinated children will have less serious complications if they do contract the disease; they will be much more treatable, and have a lower risk of death (Jolley and Douglas 2). The risks of not vaccinating greatly outweigh the small risks of vaccination. Diseases like measles and mumps can cause permanent disability. While there i...
When hygienic conditions were poor polio attacked infants. The disease was spread by contaminated water and contact with fecal contamination. Many infants died when the conditions were poor. But as conditions improved the virus spread differently. It was spread more through playmates and family members, the contamination came from the nose and throat. By the early 1950s, twenty-five percent of paralytic cases occurred in people 21 years old or older.