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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.
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]
Polio eradication, the goal of permanent global cessation of circulation of the poliovirus and hence elimination of the poliomyelitis (polio) it causes, is the aim of a multinational public health effort begun in 1988, led by the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the Rotary Foundation. [55]
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.
For roughly 80 years, she has coped with the aftermath of a polio infection, including the late effects of polio, called post-polio syndrome. She now needs a wheelchair or mobility scooter to get ...
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Young people with polio receiving physiotherapy in the 1950s. The social history of viruses describes the influence of viruses and viral infections on human history. Epidemics caused by viruses began when human behaviour changed during the Neolithic period, around 12,000 years ago, when humans developed more densely populated agricultural communities.
“Even a single case of polio is a threat,” opined New York State Health Commissioner Mary T. Bassette in an op-ed essay in The New York Times on Aug. 21.