Polio
Signs + Symptoms
-About 75% of people who contract polio will not show any symptoms.
-Common symptoms include fever, headache, nausea, sore throat, stomach pain and fatigue.​
-Some people will experience severe symptoms that can affect the nervous system. -These can include tingly feeling in the legs, meningitis and paralysis.
-Up to 10% of people experiencing paralysis as a result of polio will die because the virus paralyzes the muscles that help them breathe.
-Poliomyelitis is known as the paralytic disease.
Vaccine schedule for children 0-6
4 doses at 2 months, 4 months, 6-18 months and 4-6 years old.
Treatment
There is currently no cure for polio, treatment is focused on symptom management.
Transmission
Complications
Complications from polio include paralysis and death.
The polio virus only infects humans.
It lives in the throat and intestines and enters the human body through the mouth. The virus can live in the feces for months. It spreads through contact with feces from an infected person and sometimes by coughing and sneezing. It can also be spread indirectly by coming into contact with household items contaminated with infected feces. If you are infected with the polio virus and not experiencing symptoms, you can still pass the virus on to others and make them sick.
Source: Centres for Disease Control and Prevention