Polio, also known as poliomyelitis, is a contagious disease which was first seen in England in 1789 by Michael Underwood. The first outbreaks were reported in early 19th century and it was first reported in United States in 1843. At first, there were no any treatments found against polio. The epidemics were increasing severely through northern hemisphere. 21,000 cases of paralytic polio were seen in United States in 1952. It took a longer time for polio to be recognized as a major problem in developing countries. As the disease was spreading very faster, first routine immunization was introduced worldwide in 1970s, to control the disease in many developing countries. Polio was eliminated from the western hemisphere in around 1994 because of the widespread vaccination. Polio simply is a viral infection that can cause paralysis, different breathing problems or even death. It is difficult to find out the disease if its polio because 95% of all the cases show no any symptoms and only 5% cases shows the symptoms. There are two types of polio; the one which doesn’t show symptoms is called asymptomatic polio and the one which shows symptoms is called symptomatic polio. Further, symptomatic polio can be again classified in two forms as non paralytic polio and paralytic polio. Paralytic polio is a severe one than non paralytic polio. Paralytic polio can be classified in three categories as spinal polio, which attacks in spinal cord; bulbar polio, which affects sight, breathing and swallowing and bulb spinal polio which affects both spinal and bulbar. The people who are weakened by other medical conditions, which mean, the people who have weak immune system, and young and pregnant women are likely to get the infection. There are different... ... middle of paper ... ...ype 1 (WPV1) and type 2 (cVDV2). Another, the website, http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Peshawar,-a-priest-at-the-forefront-of-anti--polio-vaccination-campaigns-30087.html, has made us known that in Islamabad, Pakistan; there was an assassination of volunteers by Taliban who were engaged in the vaccination campaigns. His name was Peshawar and he was a priest. This is just one example. There has been numerous attacks and hindrances in the campaigns like this where hundreds of volunteers have lost their life . (Image source: Google) So to eradicate the virus globally every individual should help the organizations. And every government and organizations should try their best to prevent the hindrances in campaigns and spread the effect of polio virus. In conclusion, all I want to say is, lets hold the hand together and give our best to make a polio free environment.
At first polio was a troubling prospect when it first reared its ugly head in the United States of America. In a noble effort to be rid of polio, America as a whole was to adopt stringent sanitation measures. Everywhere, especially the home was to be spotless and clean in order to try and prevent the contraction of polio. This coupled with the view that America as a western nation seemed impervious to such a lowly disease tried to assuage American fear of the disease. Despite the measures commonly adopted throughout the myriad of cities and towns, polio still managed to spread around the country and wreak havoc taking thousands of lives. An outbreak that ravaged America claimed nearly 27,000 lives in a terrible reckoning before it finally subsided. This and several other troubling outbreaks
The name of each condition describes the location and severity of the paralyzed muscles. The first type is Spinal paralytic polio. This is the most common type of the three, it is caused by an infection in the spinal cord. It leaves its victims crippled, producing paralysis in the arms and/or legs. The legs are usually affected more than arms. The second type is Respiratory polio. The polio virus attacks the respiratory or chest muscles, making it difficult or impossible for the patient to breathe without help from a breathing machine. This condition is very dangerous, and may result in death in as much as fifty percent of its victims. The a third type is Bulbar polio. The polio virus attacks the nerve cells that are found just above the spinal cord in the region called the “bulb” or brain stem. These nerve cells control the pharynx (throat) and larynx (voice box) muscles. When these areas are affected, the patient may have serious problems breathing, swallowing, and speaking. This is the most dangerous form of polio. Secretions collect in the throat and may block the airway (trachea), which may cause the patient to suffocate (Polio
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.
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 security, 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). Jonas Salk, who was a virologist at the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (NFIP), used inactivated viruses (virus particles grown in culture and then killed by a form of heat) to create a polio vaccine. Salk drew blood from about two million children, which the NFIP checked for immunization.Through the collection of many HeLa cells and trial and error, the polio vaccine wa...
The Polio Journals: Lessons from My Mother, by Anne K. Gross, is the heartbreaking and emotional version of one woman’s life as a polio survivor. Carol Greenfeld Rosenstiel, the author’s mother, contracted polio in 1927 at the young age of two. From then until her death from lung cancer in 1985, Carol Rosenstiel was a paraplegic, suffering paralysis below the waist. She did successfully marry, raise children, and enjoy a profession as a concert musician while confined to a wheelchair. She kept journals that Anne Gross used, after her mother’s death, to reminisce her mother’s life. She was encouraged by her courageous and pitiless efforts to attain recognition in the world of the non-disabled.
One of the other notable important advances was the “Conquest of Polio” this disease usually caused paralysis in the people who contracted the virus. Back then there...
A Taliban leader said that if girls did not stop going to school within a month, there would be repercussions. Instead of capitulating, this proclamation only made Yousafzai more passionate and courageous. She continued to attend school, despite the numerous threats and causes for fear. As an education activist, she was in more danger than most of her classmates, so it was not safe for her to walk anywhere, instead she had to take a car or bus. One day, while aboard a school bus with her classmates and friends, two men entered asking which girl was named Malala. The other girls looked at Yousafzai which unintentionally gave away her location. The men shot 15 year old Yousafzai in a defining moment in history. This not only had consequences for her and her family, but it also had consequences for the citizens of Pakistan and people living around the world. This was a turning point because people began to realize that the Taliban would target anyone with opposing views, even teenage girls.
In protest to this, Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani girl, refused to follow these rules, and even began a blog for the British Broadcasting Corporation, detailing her life under Taliban rule. In response to her protest, a gunman approached her, and shot her three times. This assassination attempt started a global movement in support of Yousafzai and her beliefs. Like Thoreau, Gandhi, King, and Yousafzai, one must realize when others are being oppressed and take action against those in power who oppress the people they rule. Otherwise, there will never be change, and the world will never see justice.
Almost no one on Earth has any immunity at all to this virus, which makes ordinary vaccines useless against it. The sudden spread of the virus into Europe foreshadows an epidemic development that could be worldwide. Ultimately, there is no way to protect ourselves against epidemics. They will keep disappearing and coming back in new forms.
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.
Vaccine safety is one of the most controversial topics in today’s public discourse. Everyone has heard of them, but few know why they are so encouraged. A vaccine contains a weak or dead version of a microbe. This creates a small scale invasion of the immune system, which activates cells to destroy the microbe. Once these cells have been made they are always there to provide protection. This protection is immunity, for those cells are then able to recognize any live version of the same microbe and attack it immediately. This can save lives but also be dangerous, vaccines carry many other components which can cause side effects. These could be simple adverse effects such as a small cold or, in the rare case,
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).
(Jane C Finlay, Noni E MacDonald, 2001). Working with Vaccine -hesitant parents. Canadian Paediatric Society. Retrieved May 3, 2013, from http://www.cps.ca
They state that, “Vaccines save 2.5 million children from preventable diseases every year, which equates to roughly 285 children saved every hour” (ProCon.org). These statistics show how vaccines are successfully saving the lives of children every year. If vaccines are saving 285 children every hour, that means that roughly five children are saved every sixty seconds. Imagine a scenario in 2004, after the polio vaccine was introduced. A poor single mother is raising her three young children who she cares deeply about. She decides to not get them vaccinated because she believes it is irrelevant and is concerned that vaccines are not safe. What she does not know, is that a transfer student from Nigeria has joined her children’s school, and brought polio with him. A few weeks later, all her children come down with polio. But with a mortality rate of up to 75%, not all of her children survive, and the one that did is paralyzed for life. While some believe that polio is no longer an issue in America, it only takes one person to bring the disease
years, and there is still no cure, but at the peak of its devastation in the United