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Written By: Editorial Team | Updated : October 25, 2019 4:39 PM IST
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With Diwali around the corner, everybody is in a happy frame of mind. Here's a piece of good news to make us all happier (and relieved too!) during the festive season. Wild poliovirus type 3 (WPV 3) has been wiped out of the world. Sharing this significant achievement on the World Polio Day, 24th October, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, Regional Director for Africa, World Health Organisation (WHO), stated that 2 out of 3 forms of polio virus have been eradicated globally. With WPV 2 eradicated about four years back, the next aim is to free the world from wild poliovirus type 1. They are active in countries such as Afghanistan and Pakistan. WHO is working towards immunizing us against this type of infectious viral disease as well.
Polio is an infectious viral disease that can lead to paralysis. In severe cases, it can be fatal too. In terms of symptoms, all the three strains of polio virus are quite similar. However, their genetic make-up is different. That is why all the three strains need to be wiped out separately.
Polio virus is highly contagious and is mostly trasmitted through infected animal or human faeces. It can also be transmitted through a sneeze or cough, as the virus mostly lives in throat and interstines of the infected person. People living or travelling in countries with poor sanitation are at a higher risk of catching polio. The chances of catching polio virus is high in people who have a compromised or under developed immune system. That is why young children, HIV patients and pregnant women fall in the high risk group. The best way to protect yourself against this infectious disease is getting vaccinated against this infectious disease.
While it comes to symptom manifestation, polio can be categorized into three types: Inapparent infection or Subclinical polio, abortive polio and paralytic polio. Here is a low-down on each of them.
Abortive polio, also known as non-paralytic polio is the most easy-to-treat variation of this infectious viral disease. It accounts for almost 80% of all polio cases in the world. Abortive polio mostly affects young children and the symptoms include fever, malaise, headache, sore throat and vomiting. They do not last for more than 8-10 days.
It is a myth that all polio cases lead to paralysis. According to WHO, only 1 in 200 polio infections leads to irreversible paralysis. However, paralytic polio can affect your spine, brain stem or both. Depending on the location of the viral attack, there are three types of abortive polio: Spinal Polio, Bulbar Polio (affecting brain) and Bulbospinal Polio (affecting both brain and spine). Initial symptoms of paralytic polio are similar to those of abortive polio. It is only after a couple of weeks that severe symptoms like loss of reflexes, spasms and muscle pain, loose and deformed limbs and sudden paralysis tend to show up in the infected person.
This is hard to diagnose as the symptoms are silent or very mild. Moreover, they do not last for more than 72 hours.
There is no cure for polio, ye. However, vaccinating a child against this infection helps in preventing it. A child needs to take four doses of the inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV). The immunization should ideally start at the age of 2 months followed by two more doses at 4 and 6 months. The booster dose can be administered between the age of 6 and 14 years. The vaccine produces antibodies that prepare the immune system of a child against the inroads of the polio virus.
