Polio »
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 so...
Read the Polio article »
Healthy Living Tips
