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The history of polio (poliomyelitis) infections began during prehistory. Although major polio epidemics were unknown before the 20th century, [1] the disease has caused paralysis and death for much of human history. Over millennia, polio survived quietly as an endemic pathogen until the 1900s when major epidemics began to occur in Europe. [1]
Poliomyelitis (/ ˌ p oʊ l i oʊ ˌ m aɪ ə ˈ l aɪ t ɪ s / POH-lee-oh-MY-ə-LY-tiss), commonly shortened to polio, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. [1] Approximately 75% of cases are asymptomatic; [5] mild symptoms which can occur include sore throat and fever; in a proportion of cases more severe symptoms develop such as headache, neck stiffness, and paresthesia.
The U.N. agency estimates that 1 in 200 polio cases results in permanent paralysis, usually of the legs. ... Before the first vaccine was developed in the 1950s, polio was among the most feared ...
[7]: 455 In 1921, an American physician would assume that if an individual developed a sudden, non-traumatic flaccid paralysis, it was due to paralytic polio. The concept of GBS as a distinct disease was not widely accepted in the United States until after the Second World War. [3]: 232 [self-published source]
Up to 0.5% develop paralysis of or weakness in the arms and/or legs—and up to 10% of those paralyzed die. Even people with mild infections can experience post-polio syndrome (PPS) decades later.
A doctor and professor explains how we have forgotten the contagious and painful symptoms of Polio.
The disease then began a slow decline for much of the remainder of the year. [3] The height of the epidemic lasted from June to November. Once cases began to subside, businesses reopened, and the public fear decreased. The overall mortality rate throughout the city was estimated to be about 25%, and the disease left many more paralyzed. [4]
“The paralysis can be permanent and lead to death.” That’s because, in severe cases, ... In the 1940s and 1950s, polio was “one of the most feared diseases,” says Lipps, “causing ...