Polio
Medical Author: David Perlstein, MD, FAAP
Medical Editor: Charles Davis, MD, PhD
What is the history of polio?
Polio is caused by a virus and has been around for thousands of years. There
are even Egyptian artifacts portraying individuals with typical features of
post-polio paralysis. Polio has been called
many different names, including infantile paralysis, debility of the lower
extremities, and spinal paralytic paralysis. We now refer to the virus and
disease as polio, which is short for poliomyelitis and has Greek derivation: polios (gray),
myelos (marrow), and itis (inflammation).
Polio is caused by a
very infectious enterovirus, poliovirus (PV), which primarily affects young
children and is spread through direct person-to-person contact, with
infected mucus, phlegm, feces, or by contact with food and water contaminated by
feces of another infected individual. The virus multiplies in the
gastrointestinal tract where it can also invade the nervous system, causing
permanent neurological damage in some individuals.
Most individuals infected
with polio remain asymptomatic or develop only mild flu-like symptoms, including
fatigue, malaise, fever, headache, sore throat, and vomiting. In fact, the
symptoms, if present, may only last 48-72 hours; however, those individuals will
continue to shed virus in their stools for a prolonged period, serving as a
reservoir for subsequent infections. About 2%-5% of infected
individuals go on to develop more serious symptoms that may include respiratory
problems and paralysis. Currently, there is no cure for polio; only vaccination
can prevent the spread of the disease, and although in the developed world it is
almost unheard of, globally, polio remains a fairly common disease. Originally,
international organizations believed it possible to eradicate polio by 2000,
though this has been more difficult than initially hoped for.
Next: What causes polio? »
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