What is Polio?
According to End Polio, Polio is a contagious viral disease that can lead to severe nerve injury and result in paralysis or even death. Although, despite having such dangerous potential, the majority of people who are infected with the virus don’t get sick and may not even be aware that they have been infected. For that kind of non-paralytic polio, people tend to just develop mild flu-like symptoms typical of other viral illnesses, such as fever, sore throat, headache, fatigue, muscle soreness, etc. For those that happen to get the rare but serious form of the disease, paralytic polio, they first get signs similar to non-paralytic polio (headache, fever, etc.), until a week later when the more severe symptoms start appearing. Such symptoms include loss of reflexes or loose and floppy limbs, and then after the disease itself, there is a post-polio syndrome that includes a cluster of disabling signs and symptoms that include muscle atrophy, sleep-related breathing disorders, decreased tolerance of cold temperatures, breathing or swallowing problems, etc.
Countering Polio
To combat Polio, there is a vaccine that was made. According to Kids Health, IPV, or inactivated poliovirus vaccine, is usually given at ages 2 months, 4 months, 6-18 months, and 4-6 years. There is also OPV, or oral poliovirus vaccine, that is still used in other parts of the world, but the United States has stuck with IPV since 2000. Due to the severe symptoms and prominence of the disease, major efforts were taken to completely eradicate Polio, particularly the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, which has reduced polio cases by 99.9% since the first project to vaccinate children in the Philippines in 1979. According to Stat News, three years ago, further progress was made towards the goal of eradicating Polio; a newer version of the vaccine where a problematic component in developing countries was phased out came out and was introduced.
Campaign News
Originally, the idea of an effort to rid the world of polio came from the Rotary movement. According to Rotary, they are a global network of 1.2 million “neighbors, friends, leaders, and problem-solvers who see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change,” with said change referring to the prevalence of polio in the world. A lot of progress has been made, and StatNews particularly brings up a recent milestone in the campaign to end Polio. Apparently, a global commision is expected to announce that type 3 poliovirus has been eradicated, which will only leave type 1 poliovirus remaining to combat. Polio is still far from being completely eradicated, but with one step at a time, we get closer and closer to the grand goal.
