Polio In Children

Poliomyelitis or commonly called Polio is a viral infectious disease that spread from person to person via the fecal-oral route. The term was derived from Greek word polios which means "grey", "myelos", which refers to spinal cord and the suffix "itis", means inflammation. Before the invention of its vaccine treatment in the early 1960's, polio has become a devastating disease affecting millions of children worldwide since ancient time.

Polio infections causes no symptoms until the virus reaches the blood stream. Virus may even enter the central nervous system and destroying the motor neurons resulting to muscle weakness and acute flaccid paralysis. The severity of the damage depends on the damaged nerves involved and different types of paralysis is possible.

The most common type of polio is the spinal polio which causes asymmetric paralysis, the one that involves the legs. Bulbar polio targets the muscles which is stimulated by cranial nerves. Then there is Bulbospinal polio, a combination of both spinal and bulbar paralysis.

Polio virus is classified into three forms:

* Abortive polio - a mild form of polio which possess a flu-like symptoms.
* Non-paralytic polio - possess neurological symptoms
* Paralytic polio - a severe and deadly form of poliomyelitis

Both abortive and nan-paralytic are both curable but paralytic form of polio virus can cause muscle paralysis and even death.

Polio has been known as the most dreaded childhood disease of the 20th century causing thousands of children crippled or dead for every single outbreak which started in Europe, America then in Asia. This has pushed scientists to fasten their development of polio vaccines.

How can it enter the body? It can be transmitted through ingestion of contaminated materials which are often found in stool. Dirty hands after using the bathroom and drinking contaminated water are both known transmission causes of the disease.

So how can it prevented? Immunization is the best way to prevent this disease through vaccines. This vaccines however was only discovered late in the 1950's and it was only in the 1980's which reported that the virus was eliminated in the United States. But polio still exists in developing countries like those in Asia and in Africa. This mainly because of the poverty and the lack of knowledge about the disease.

IPV vaccine is the most recommended immunization prevention for polio virus. It stimulates the immune system of the body to fight the virus once contact occurs. IPV does not cause polio. Today, IPV is the only vaccine given to children before the age of 18 months and then a follow up IPV booster between ages 4 to 6, during their pre-school time.

Today, it is a mandatory vaccine for every new born children in Europe and the United States to be able to totally eradicate polio disease. World Health Organization is working hard to totally eliminate this disease reporting every polio cases in the affected countries.

However, children who travel to Asia and other developing countries (where polio still exists) are suggested to have the proper and complete vaccination for virus immunization. Until there is a single case of the disease, vaccination will continue worldwide for all new born child.

About the author Noah Mark Rodolfo is an alternative natural healthcare practitioner and is committed to bring the best health and wellness information online. Get the most updated news about health, diseases, weight loss and proper nutrition on his website at Health and Wellness. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Noah_Mark_Rodolfo

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