11 Facts about Polio
- An infection caused by a virus that affects the whole body including muscles and nerves.
- There are three types of polio: non-paralytic, spinal paralytic and bulbar—the latter two being the most severe. Spinal paralytic polio can lead to leg paralysis. Bulbar polio could result in a victim’s spending the rest of his life in an iron lung.
- In most cases (95%) there are no symptoms. A small number of people may have fever, sore throat, headache, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and diarrhea.
- One in 200 infections leads to irreversible paralysis (usually in the legs). Among those paralyzed, 5% to 10% die when their breathing muscles become immobilized.
- The virus is found in saliva and feces of sick people, and is spread by direct contact with sick persons or through the air when a sick person talks, coughs or sneezes. It is also spread by food, water and hands contaminated with infected feces.
- Polio can strike a person of any age, but children 5 and under comprise 50% of its victims.
- Polio cases have decreased by over 99% since 1988, from an estimated 350,000 cases then, to 1,997 reported cases in 2006. The reduction is the result of the global effort to eradicate the disease.
- In 2008, only four countries in the world remain polio-endemic, down from more than 125 in 1988. The remaining countries are Afghanistan, India, Nigeria and Pakistan.
- Persistent pockets of polio transmission in northern India, northern Nigeria and the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan are the current focus of the polio eradication initiative.
- As long as a single child remains infected, children in all countries are at risk of contracting polio. Between 2003 and 2005, 25 previously polio-free countries were re-infected due to imports of the virus.
- Because there is no cure for polio, the best protection is prevention. For as little as $0.60 worth of vaccine, a child can be protected against this crippling disease for life.
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