Living in the time of polio

A chequered past

Ancient Egyptian art depicts otherwise healthy people with withered limbs, and children walking with canes. It is also believed that the Roman Emperor Claudius was afflicted with the disease. Another famous sufferer was Sir Walter Scott, believed to be the earliest recorded case of the disease in the British isles. Several centuries later, the United States of America was struck by a polio epidemic in 1952. Of the nearly 58,000 cases reported that year, 3,145 died and 21,269 were left with mild to disabling paralysis.

Poliovirus Type 1 (P1)

Polio is a contagious disease caused by a virus that survives in the throat and intestinal tract. It has three strains, wild poliovirus type 1, wild poliovirus type 2 and wild poliovirus type 3. But of the three, the wild poliovirus type 1 is considered the most contagious. It spreads very fast and one out of every 200 children is infected with this type, say experts. In affected areas like Uttar Pradesh, multiple factors come into play in the spread of polio. “In the case of western Uttar Pradesh, its peculiar demography like high density of population and high birth rate causes the rapid growth of this type of virus,” said Dr Naveen Thacker, consultant paediatrician, Deep Hospital, Gandhidham, Bhuj, and former president of the Indian Academy of Paediatrics.

Signs and symptoms

Up to 95 per cent of kids infected with polio may show no symptoms. About 4 to 8 per cent get minor symptoms like fever, fatigue, nausea, headache, flu, stiffness in the neck and back, and pain in limbs — all symptoms which subside completely at times. Less than one per cent of polio cases result in permanent paralysis of the limbs. Of those paralysed, 5 to 10 per cent die when the paralysis strikes respiratory muscles. Incidentally, it is difficult to gauge the strain of virus without a laboratory examination of stools.

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