Polio is a highly contagious disease that is spread from person to person by contact with infected secretions from nose, mouth or infected feces. The virus enters the host through the mouth and replicates in the intestine affecting mostly children under the age of five, especially those who are not toilet-trained (WHO, 2013). Poliovirus is composed of an RNA genome with about 7500 nucleotides and a protein capsid. It infects human cells by binding to CD155 receptor (the poliovirus receptor (PVR)) on the cell surface. The virus attaches to the host cell and creates a pore in plasma membrane through which RNA is injected or the virus is ingested by the cell through endocytosis. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) statistics shows that approximately 72% of persons infected with polio will have no symptoms and about 24% of infected persons have minor symptoms, such as fever, fatigue, nausea, headache, flu-like symptoms, stiffness in the neck and back, and pain in the limbs. Less than 1% of polio cases result in permanent paralysis of the limbs (usually lower limbs) and die when the paralysis strikes the respiratory muscles (CDC ,2014). In 1789 in England, Michael Underwood was the first one to provide a clinical description of the disease as debility of the lower extremities in children. The first outbreaks were reported in the 19th century in Europe and in 1843 in the United States, reaching its endemic peak in the United States in 1952, with more than 45,000 paralytic cases. There is no drug or treatment for polio. During the epidemic years of 1950s, patients with serious breathing problems were placed in an "iron lung," a cylindrical chamber that surrounded a patient's body from the neck down, which used rhythmic al...
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...r public and endemic health issue, people will be able to access polio vaccines globally, and children would not be vulnerable to suffer from a painful lifelong polio-paralysis. ( WHO, 2013).
References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Polio Disease In-Short." 16 Jan. 2014. Web. 27 Feb. 2014. http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd-vac/polio/in-short-both.htm
CDC. Updated recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) regarding routine poliovirus vaccination. MMWR 2009;58 (No. 30):829–30.
http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/pinkbook/downloads/polio.pdf
March of Dimes Foundation. "Polio." Polio. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Mar. 2014. http://www.marchofdimes.com/mission/polio.aspx
World Health Organization. "Poliomyelitis Fact Sheet N 114." WHO. N.p., Apr. 2013. Web. 27 Feb. 2014.
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs114/en/
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.
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
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...
The article’s information is presented with the goal of informing a reader on vaccines. The evidence is statistical and unbiased, showing data on both side effects and disease prevention, providing rates of death and serious illness from both sides. This evidence is sourced from a variety of medical organizations and seems reliable, logical, and easily understood, no language that would inspire an emotional response is used. The validity of studies is not mentioned in the article, but it does encourage readers to investigate further to help make a decision. The article allows a reader to analyze the presented evidence and come to their own
Paralytic poliomyelitis, "polio", held a reign of terror over this nation for decades. But unless you were born before 1955, polio may seem to be just another ephemeral disease that has been nonexistent for years. Those born before 1955 remember having a great fear of this horrible disease which crippled thousands of once active, healthy children. This disease had no cure and no identified causes, which made it all the more terrifying. People did everything that they had done in the past to prevent the spread of disease, such as quarantining areas, but these tactics never seemed to work. Polio could not be contained. Many people did not have the money to care for a family member with polio. This was one of the reasons the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis was organized. The March of Dimes, the fund raiser headed by the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, raised thousands and thousands of dollars to help people care for their polio stricken family members and to aid in the cost of research for a vaccine that would put an end to this misery that affected the lives of so many people.
...es and eradicate the virus from the United States. Consequently, there will always be social stigma against any sickness no matter what century, and those who lived through the polio epidemic are able to testify that fear is the root of all stigma.
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).
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.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 09 June 2009. Web. 24 Mar. 2014.
Jonas Salk, 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 was ready in a year.... ... middle of paper ... ...
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.
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.
The CDC works closely with public health agencies and private partners in order to improve and sustain immunization coverage and to monitor the safety of vaccines so that public ...