Eradicating Polio: An Informative Look at an Infectious Disease

Polio has been around for many centuries. It swept throughout the world during the 1930s - 50s – causing fear and panic among people. School and places were shut down and families secured themselves in their homes to protect their children against the disease which was rapidly spreading. Around 2013, The World Health Organisation on Friday declared Pakistan's north-western city of Peshawar as the world’s “largest reservoir” of endemic polio. In today’s time, chances of polio have been largely decreased due to developments in world such as introduction of vaccines. However, its continued presence is still risky for people living in the most affected countries. That said, public health officials think that complete extinction of polio may be likely, and in 1999, one of the three parts of poliovirus was eliminated entirely.

How is polio caught and what are effects it?

Polio is a very contagious disease. It is passed from one person to another through contact with faeces. Germs in the water that people drink or the food that they eat can also be another reason people fall ill with polio. The main effect of polio is that is that it causes an infection in the bowel (intestine). Not everyone falls ill with polio but if they do they get ill with a bad headache, nausea and vomiting. In Addition, a very small number of people get a paralysis in certain parts of their body.

Symptoms of polio and how to avoid it

The majority of people who become ill with polio will not have any symptoms and won’t even realise that they have been infected. However, if the virus enters into your bloodstream through the intestine, you may experience fever, headache, and vomiting, stiffness in the neck, and pain in the limbs. In Australia, parents get their children vaccinated at certain ages to protect them from harmful diseases like polio. Improvements in medical science has lowered the chances of getting infected by harmful diseases and will hopefully get rid of them in the future.

Finding The Cure for Polio: Contribution by Dr. Jonas Salk

Dr. Jonas Salk started carrying out research on viruses in the 1930s as a student at New York University. He had invented a version of the polio vaccine immediately after his idea was approved. In Appendix A we can see him do his clinical trials in which he was to completely eradicate several strains of the disease and then inject the virus into a healthy person’s body. The clinical trial was successful because the person’s immune system in which the virus was injected would soon begin to create antibodies towards the virus, which would help fight the disease if exposed with it in future. On March 26, 1953, Dr. Salk was able to announce his findings on the polio vaccine. And it was not until April of 1955 that it was announced that the vaccine was indeed effective and could be manufactured.

Polio has been a serious issue throughout previous years. Dr Salk’s contribution in medicine provided lives to many and helped medical science advance in its research methods. It is important for us human beings to be careful with what we eat and drink because we never know what we might be affected by.