Polio
By: Matthew Cupp
Treatment
There is no cure for polio!! Once you get polio you just have to wait until it goes away. Since there is no cure babies are given the vaccine when they are born. The only treatment for polio is treatment for the symptoms. Once you get start getting the symptoms the goal is to keep them in control using antibiotics and sometimes people need breathing help.
Transmission
Polio is spread from person to person contact and it also spreads from contact with infected animal feces. Polio also spreads faster if its unsanitary because its spread person to person. Polio is a virus that enters trough the mouth and nose. The virus travels in the body through the blood. It takes 5-35 days for the symptoms to develop. Even though it takes that long for the symptoms to develop it can spread to the next person within the first days.
Prevention
Although personal hygeine and public sanitation help. The real way tp prevent polio is to get the polio-virus booster.
Symptoms
There are three different types of polio and they all have different symptoms. Paralytic polio symptoms are loss of reflexes and severe muscle aches. Non-paralytic polio symptoms include: fever, sore throat, headache, vomiting and meningitis. Post polio syndrome symptoms are: depression, breathing problems, exhaustion and your muscles start to waste away.
Causes
Polio is caused by unsanitary water. Also lots of times people are born with it because it could have been in their parents blood. Polio is a virus that is very contagious that if you are even in the same room as a person with polio you have a 90% chance of getting infected.
Statistics
In 2013 there were 416 cases of polio. 194 of those were from Somalia and 93 were from Pakistan. In 2014 there have been 316 cases, 268 of these are in Pakistan, that is 85 percent. Today there are only 3 countries with polio they are Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria.
What Happens in the Body?
Polio is held in the small intestine and throat. Because its held in the small intestine it spreads by feces. But what's really infected is the muscles. What happens is the muscles start breaking down or shrinking. These symptoms usually take 5-35 days to develop.
Pump It Up!
Because there is no cure for polio, polio has been very hard to kill. But people have been getting really close. The end polio now project is a donation project to try and kill polio. They need donations because the infected places are places that cannot afford the vaccination. This project is made by the CDC (centers for disease control). So far they have had 1 MILLION DOLLARS donated to this project. Today we are ninety percent closer to ending polio. People say we are only an inch away to curing polio and I believe this too.
Bibliography
"Global Polio Eradication Initiative Data and Monitoring Polio This Week." Global Polio Eradication Initiative Data and Monitoring Polio This Week. Web. 06 Dec. 2014.
Kid on Crutches. Digital image. The Hindu. Web. 16 Dec. 2014.
"Polio and Post-Polio Syndrome: MedlinePlus." U.S National Library of Medicine. U.S. National Library of Medicine. Web. 05 Dec. 2014.
"Polio." Mayo Clinic. Mayo Clinic. Web. 01 Dec. 2014.
Polio Progress. Digital image. Center for Disease Control. CDC. Web. 16 Dec. 2014.
Polio shrunken leg. Digital image. Polio Eradication. Web.
Polio shrunken leg. Digital image. Polio Eradication. WHO and CDC, 2010. Web. 16 Dec. 2014.
Polio Vaccine. Digital image. Unicef. Web. 17 Dec. 2014.