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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.
Roosevelt at Warm Springs (1929) Roosevelt with polio patients in Warm Springs, Georgia (1925) Roosevelt was totally and permanently paralyzed from the waist down, and unable to stand or walk without support. [8] For the next few months, he confined himself to indoor pursuits, including resuming his lifelong hobby of stamp collecting. [9]
Most infections are asymptomatic; a small number cause a minor illness that is indistinguishable from many other viral illnesses; less than 1% result in acute flaccid paralysis. This article lists people who had the paralytic form of polio. The extent of paralysis varies from part of a limb to quadriplegia and respiratory failure.
The virus infects the throat and intestines, and can cause flu-like symptoms. Paralysis from the polio virus is rare. This year, polio cases have been detected in New York state, London and Jerusalem.
Rows of iron lungs filled hospital wards at the height of the polio outbreaks of the 1940s and 1950s, helping children, and some adults, with bulbar polio and bulbospinal polio. A polio patient with a paralyzed diaphragm would typically spend two weeks inside an iron lung while recovering. [36] [37]
Up to 5% of polio patients develop meningitis, the inflammation of the tissues surrounding the brain and spinal cord, the CDC estimates. Up to 0.5% develop paralysis of or weakness in the arms and ...
Polio-like syndrome is a general description of a group of symptoms which mimic polio, including rarely permanent paralysis. Various triggers have been found, including some viruses from the same virus group as polio: enterovirus 68, enterovirus 71, and coxsackievirus A7. [1] [2] These are suspected in many cases of acute flaccid myelitis.
A small percentage, about one in 200, of individuals who contract the polio virus suffer paralysis. A few could contract meningitis if the polio virus attacks the covering of the spinal cord or brain.