The virus often
spreads through contact with infected feces (stool)
. It can be spread when an infected child coughs or sneezes infected droplets into the air. A child is more at risk for polio if they are in an area where polio is still active.
What happens if you are born with polio?
Paralytic polio can lead to
temporary or permanent muscle paralysis
Can a baby be born with polio?
Can post polio syndrome
Is polio common during pregnancy?
Abstract. Acute poliomyelitis
occurs in all trimesters of pregnancy
. At one time there were six women in the poliomyelitis ward at Children’s Hospital, five of whom were either pregnant or recently delivered. Poliomyelitis is an important entity in the differential diagnosis of diseases complicating pregnancy.
Does polio carry genetic material?
In the research reported in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the research workers figured the complete subunit sequence of the polio virus’s genetic material in
DNA form
. Such a DNA segment is called complementary DNA, or cDNA. Altogether there are 7,740 of the subunits in that long DNA strand.
Where did polio originally come from?
The first epidemics appeared in the form of outbreaks of at least 14 cases
near Oslo, Norway
, in 1868 and of 13 cases in northern Sweden in 1881. About the same time the idea began to be suggested that the hitherto sporadic cases of infantile paralysis might be contagious.
What is the key symptom of polio?
Paralysis
is the most severe symptom associated with polio, because it can lead to permanent disability and death. Between 2 and 10 out of 100 people who have paralysis from poliovirus infection die, because the virus affects the muscles that help them breathe.
Can polio cause birth defects?
When women had poliomyelitis during a pregnancy, more miscarriages and stillbirths were observed, as was paralysis of the newborn ( congenital polio). The vaccines for polio are made up of inactivated viruses and,
if given in pregnancy, do not seem to cause any harm to the developing embryo or fetus
.
Can polio survivors have children?
Most of them
have born children
and without any more problems than other pregnant women except that they may have needed a caesarean section somewhat more often.
What happens if you get hand foot and mouth while pregnant?
In very rare cases it is possible that hand, foot and mouth disease during pregnancy may result
in miscarriage
or could affect the baby’s development. If a pregnant woman has contact with the illness or develops any kind of rash, she should see her doctor or lead maternity carer.
What animal did polio come from?
The discovery by Karl Landsteiner and Erwin Popper in 1908 that polio was caused by a virus, a discovery made by inoculating
macaque monkeys
with an extract of nervous tissue from polio victims that was shown to be free of other infectious agents.
What type of virus was polio?
Polio is caused by
a human enterovirus called the poliovirus
. Polio can interact in its host in two ways: Infection not including the central nervous system, which causes a minor illness with mild symptoms.
Does polio only affect the legs?
The virus may affect muscles on both sides of the body, but more often the paralysis is asymmetrical. Any limb or combination of limbs
may be affected
– one leg, one arm, or both legs and both arms.
How did they stop polio?
Prevention of disease spread is accomplished by
vaccination
. There are two kinds of polio vaccine—oral polio vaccine (OPV), which uses weakened poliovirus, and inactivated polio vaccine (IPV), which is injected.
Is polio a man made disease?
Poliovirus, which was discovered nearly a century ago by Karl Landsteiner and Erwin Popper (1909), is
a human virus
that replicates in the gastrointestinal tract after ingestion. In rare instances, the virus invades the central nervous system where it destroys motor neurons that control muscle movement.
Can you get polio after being vaccinated?
Do people still get polio in the United States?
No
, thanks to a successful vaccination program, the United States has been polio-free for more than 30 years, but the disease still occurs in other parts of the world.
