The Deadly Polio

Polio, when came into existence, was considered to be the most deadly and feared diseases of all times. It was bound to be as it had the potential to attack the young children and cause paralysis thus spoiling their future and at times leading to death. It came into being in the 19th century and continued to plague with world till the 20th century causing thousands of deaths. Before a vaccination was developed and made available throughout the world, the world had already witnessed a number of polio epidemics. With such large toll figures, it became mandatory for the countries across the world to make getting polio vaccinations compulsory so that everyone is safe from it and the disease can be eradicated once and for all. As of now, there are only a few countries which still get cases of polio and even those are rare occurrence.

Polio is a disease which can be traced to the polio virus which has the trait to spread through food, water or any other consumable. It may also spread through facial or close contacts. What is does is to compromise the human nervous system which causes partial or complete paralysis. There is no specific age when the polio virus may enter the body and cause harm but the infants are the most severely affected which is why, immunity vaccinations are provided in the first 3 years of a new born child's life. Since the virus enters through the oral passage, the throat and the neck area show the first symptoms. Neck pain and headaches are the first symptoms associated with polio.

After these initial symptoms, the virus tends to affect the neurons. Depending on which part(s) get affected, the severity of the problem may be analyzed. Once the motor neurons for a specific body part are destroyed, there is little hope of recovery. However with therapy there has been known cases of complete and partial recovery while at the same time there are cases of no recovery at all. The affected organs, due to uselessness, start to shrink (the size of the muscles start to decrease) which clearly becomes visible in the subsequent years causing difficulty in walking (in case the legs get affected) and working (in case of hands).

Those who experience muscle pains, get tired very fast, have breathing problems along with complaints of neck pain while eating may be victims of post polio syndrome. Again, as in the case of polio, there is no specific age, but this mostly is seen 30 years after the individual gets affected by polio. Remember that there is no specific cure for polio and if appropriate vaccinations are not taken on time, there is always a risk of contracting it. Unfortunately, there are many who do not believe in this thought and hence put everyone else at risk. The developing countries, with the lack of education and increased reliability on myths and beliefs, have not been able to keep up with the developed countries and hence pose a threat to the entire human race even after 50 years of the polio vaccination being developed.