How did polio affect the community?

How did polio affect the community?

During a polio epidemic, individual rights often clashed with the need for public safety. Travel and commerce between affected cities were sometimes restricted. Public health officers imposed quarantines on homes where someone was diagnosed with polio.

What is the transmission of polio in the community?

Polio (referred to medically as poliomyelitis) is a serious disease caused by infection with any of the 3 strains of poliovirus. The virus is live for 6 weeks. It is spread via water, food or hands contaminated with the faeces (poo) or throat secretions of someone who is infected with the virus.

How did polio affect the population?

Key facts. Polio (poliomyelitis) mainly affects children under 5 years of age. 1 in 200 infections leads to irreversible paralysis. Among those paralysed, 5% to 10% die when their breathing muscles become immobilized.

How did polio affect families?

NMAH | Polio: Families and Individuals. The enforced separation of families during the early, acute phase of the disease contributed to the intense dread and fear that polio aroused. Children and parents were not allowed any contact for ten to fourteen days and then only limited visiting for weeks afterward.

How many kids did polio affect?

Epidemics. Major polio epidemics were unknown before the 20th century; localized paralytic polio epidemics began to appear in Europe and the United States around 1900. The first report of multiple polio cases was published in 1843 and described an 1841 outbreak in Louisiana.

Did polio affect adults?

In the U.S., the last case of naturally occurring polio was in 1979. Today, despite a worldwide effort to wipe out polio, poliovirus continues to affect children and adults in parts of Asia and Africa.

Does polio require isolation?

If you suspect polio: Promptly isolate the patient to avoid disease transmission. Immediately report the suspected case to the health department. A confirmed paralytic poliomyelitis case needs to be reported to CDC within 4 hours of meeting notification criteria.

Does polio only affect humans?

Poliovirus only infects people. It enters the body through the mouth and spreads through: Contact with the feces (poop) of an infected person.

What is the impact of polio?

1 in 200 infections leads to irreversible paralysis. Of those paralyzed, 5% to 10% die when their breathing muscles become immobilized. Additionally, even children who seem to fully recover can develop new muscle pain, weakness, or paralysis as adults, 15 to 40 years later. This is called post-polio syndrome.

Which body part is affected by polio?

Polio is a viral disease which may affect the spinal cord causing muscle weakness and paralysis. The polio virus enters the body through the mouth, usually from hands contaminated with the stool of an infected person. Polio is more common in infants and young children and occurs under conditions of poor hygiene.

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 country did polio 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.