What is Polio?

Polio (also known as Poliomyelitis)

An infectious disease that can be transmitted from person to person. Polio is caused by poliovirus, an enterovirus. Poliovirus is most well known for causing paralysis in young children.[0]

Poliovirus is part of the picornavirus viral family, a taxonomic grouping that includes other familiar viruses such as the rhino virus and hepatitis A virus. These viruses are most known for their icosahedral capsid(20 faces) structure that lacks a viral envelope and carries the positive-sense single stranded RNA genome. Further characteristics include being able to withstand low pH and thus able to pass through the stomach to infect and replicate in the intestinal epithelial cells and being incredibly infectious through the fecal-oral route. [0]

*funfact: Humans are the only natural hosts of this disease. Chimapanzees, Green African Monkeys etc can only be experimentally infected.

Whilst most infections are asymptomatic, viral particles that gain entrance into the central nervous system can replicate in neurons and destroy cells that govern muscle function resulting in flaccid paralysis.[0] To simply put it, the poliovirus invades the brain and spinal cord and may cause paralysis. However, 72 out of 100 infected people will not have any visible symptoms.[1]

Symptoms commonly include:
-Sore throat
-Fever
-Feeling lethargic
-Nausea
-Headache
-Stomach pains

More severe symptoms include:
-Paresthesia ( pins and needles in arms and legs or both)
-Meningitis (Inflammation of the brain & spinal cord)
-Paralysis or weakness of arms and legs

*Paralysis may be fatal due to the inactivation of muscles that aid in respiration. Hence Polio is often referred as a paralytic infection.

Poliovirus is easily transmitted through contact with an infected person. The virus lives in the infected person's throat and intestine. It enters the body though contact of feces and though less common, sneezes and coughs. Contamination of everyday items after not properly washing after using the toilet may speed up the infection rate. This is especially so in rural countries living in unsanitary conditions.

*The poliovirus may be cured with Oral Poliovirus Vaccine(OPV) or Inactivated Poliovirus Vaccine(IPV) but there are cases of Post-polio syndrome where patients recover after a vaccination but there happened to be a relapse of the patient's previous condition. [1]

Reference:
[0]Poliomyelitis. (n.d.). Retrieved July 31, 2015, from https://microbewiki.kenyon.edu/index.php/Poliomyelitis
[1] What Is Polio? (2014, October 15). Retrieved July 31, 2015, from http://www.cdc.gov/polio/about/

WHO Wild Polio Virus Updates (Week ending 22 July)

On 14 July 2015, Forbes featured a live discussion on Polio eradication efforts, contributed by Mr Devin Thrope. The live discussion was between Dr Hamid Jafari, Director for the Global Polio Eradication Initiative at WHO, and Dr John Sever, Vice Chair of Rotary International's Polio Plus Program. The article focused on how to reduce the number of Polio cases from once a week to 0. The article emphasis on the recent outbreak of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus (cVDPV) in Madagascar where a total of 8 cases were discovered in the non-endemic country which posts as a challenge as Madagascar was last reported with an outbreak of cVDPV in September 2014.[14]

Shown below is the video of the live discussion conducted between the contributor as well as the 2 individuals taken from  http://www.forbes.com/sites/devinthorpe/2015/07/14/number-of-polio-cases-globally-drops-to-1-per-week-how-do-we-get-to-zero/2/.


By the week ending 22 July 2015, the total number of globally reported cases of Wild Poliovirus (WPV) and circulating vaccine-derived Poliovirus (cVDPV) are 33 and 9 respectively, with the most recent cases reported being 1 new case in Afghanistan, 2 new cases of wild poliovirus type 1 in Pakistan and the 8 cases reported in Madagascar.[15] Images below show the statistics of polio cases of the year to date 2015. [16]



As shown in the statistics in the images above, there has been significant improvements as there is an immense decrease in Polio cases as compared to the year 2014. However, the sudden cases reported in Madagascar is a cause for worry as it has only been a few months since the last National Immunization Day conducted in Madagascar in response to the cases reported on 29 September 2014. [16] 

 Reference:
[14] Thrope, D. (2015, July 14). Number of polio cases drop globally drop to one per week how do we get to zero. Retrieved July 30, 2015, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/devinthorpe/2015/07/14/number-of-polio-cases-globally-drops-to-1-per-week-how-do-we-get-to-zero/2/
[15]World Health Organization Wild Polio Virus Update Week ending 15 July. (2015, July ). Retrieved July 30, 2015, from http://clubrunner.blob.core.windows.net/00000050024/en-ca/files/sitepage/polio-headlines/15-jul-2015/Polio-Headlines-July-15.pdf
[16]Global Polio Eradication Initiative Data and monitoring Polio this week. (2015, July 29). Retrieved July 30, 2015, from http://www.polioeradication.org/dataandmonitoring/poliothisweek.aspx
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