The polio virus is an extremely contagious microorganism known to cause paralysis and oftentimes death. Polio is an abbreviated term for the disease poliomyelitis. Three different strains of the polio virus exist, but not all forms of the virus...
Polio, or poliomyelitis, is a serious disease that is caused by a virus. The virus thrives on the areas of the intestinal region and the back of the throat. There are three main categories of polio--abortive polio, aseptic meningitis and paralytic...
Polio -- formerly called infantile paralysis -- is a viral disease. Polio virus, which usually infects children, multiplies in the intestinal tract and spreads by fecal contamination of food and water, especially where sanitation is poor. The...
Epidemics of poliomyelitis have crippled thousands of people across the globe, striking mostly young children with paralysis and muscle weakness. In 1952, in the United States alone, nearly 60,000 cases of poliomyelitis were recorded, with more...
Polio was responsible for large epidemics in the U.S. during the 1940s and 1950s. The disease is caused by the poliovirus, which attacks nerve cells in the spinal cord and brain stem that control muscle movement. Although the disease largely...
The polio virus causes an illness called poliomyelitis. The wild-type polio virus has been eradicated from the United States, and its incidence is also decreasing around the world, thanks to aggressive vaccination programs. There have been no...
The polio virus invades the nervous system through direct person-to-person contact. The virus lives in the phlegm or feces of an infected person and enters via the mouth or nose. The polio virus causes devastating physical effects, often resulting...
Polio is an illness causes by a virus that affects multiple systems of the body. Less serious cases of poliovirus infection may cause uneasiness, headache, sore throat or vomiting, and this milder form of polio, referred to as nonparalytic polio,...
Post-polio syndrome can strike polio survivors in the later years of life. The syndrome is characterized by a gradual weakening of polio-stricken muscles, along with muscle wasting and fatigue. Post-polio syndrome can also impact muscles that had...
Polio is a contagious virus that primarily causes paralysis, difficulty breathing and death. The Mayo Clinic reports that the last case of natural polio in the U.S. occurred in 1979. The polio vaccine is 90 percent effective in preventing...
Polio is a disease caused by a virus that attacks cells in the central nervous system, often causing muscle paralysis. The disease was responsible for epidemics in America in the 1940s and early 1950s, when a successful polio vaccine was developed...
Leg exercises for polio survivors are a controversial subject. On the one hand, there is a school of thought that polio survivors must exercise their polio-damaged legs to keep them from further deterioration. On the other hand, there are some...
Post polio syndrome affects people who survived polio infections many years ago. Post-polio affects each person differently, but common problems include muscle fatigue and loss of stamina. You may experience muscle and joint pain, or have trouble...
Post-polio syndrome causes new symptoms in polio survivors years after they recover from the poliomyelitis virus. These individuals notice new weakness in muscles, both in muscles that were previously affected and in those that apparently were...
Polio enters the human body through the mouth. According to the World Health Organization, the virus quickly replicates in the throat and intestines and then enters the bloodstream. The Smithsonian states that from the bloodstream the polio virus...
The polio virus is the causative agent of poliomyelitis, one of the most feared diseases of the twentieth century, responsible for crippling thousands of people across the globe, prior to distribution of a vaccine developed by Jonas Salk in the...
Polio is an infectious disease caused by a virus spread through contact with infected persons, consuming contaminated food or by inhalation. It affects the central nervous system and can result in paralysis or death. There were polio epidemics in...
Polio is caused by a virus that attacks nerve cells and sometimes produces muscle paralysis. It was once a common disease that reached a peak in the 1950s, according to MayoClinic.com. Vaccines were developed that are very effective, and few...
Polio is a contagious virus that causes paralysis, difficulty breathing, and possibly death. Medline Plus, of the National Institutes of Health, states that the virus spreads by direct person-to-person contact, contact with infected mucus or...
People who had polio when they were children may develop a condition called post-polio syndrome when they get older. Those who get this condition become easily fatigued and have joint and muscle pain and weakness, as well as problems with...
Post-polio syndrome occurs years after a patient has been affected by the polio virus. Common symptoms of this condition include muscle weakness, tiredness and muscle atrophy. Symptoms may worsen if you do not use the muscles affected by...
Effective vaccines for the polio virus were introduced in the United States in 1955, ending national polio epidemics. A 2006 report prepared for the Post-Polio Health International organization estimated that 426,000 Americans are polio survivors....
Post-polio syndrome, or PPS, is a medical condition that sometimes occurs later in the lives of people who survived polio in their younger years. Muscle atrophy, weakness and generalized fatigue are symptoms of PPS. The syndrome can become...
Polio is a viral disease that affects the nervous system, destroying nerve cells and often producing weakened or paralyzed muscles. Sometimes, people who had polio many years ago develop post-polio syndrome, which involves new changes in muscles....
Polio is caused by a virus that attacks nerve cells, killing them and depriving muscles of their innervation. The result can be weakened or paralyzed muscles, often in the arms or legs and sometimes in the diaphragm, causing breathing problems....
Exercise is important for just about everyone. Those who are now experiencing the residual muscle weakness and muscle atrophy of post-polio syndrome are no exception. The National Center on Physical Activity and Disability defines exercise as...
The conventional wisdom that exercise increases strength is not always true for polio survivors. Polio damages the motor neurons that trigger muscle fibers to contract, and exercise can cause those weakened neurons and muscles to fail in people...
From 1916 to 1955, an epidemic of the polio virus, or poliomyelitis, occurred in the United States. Twenty to 30 years later, some polio survivors began experiencing a cluster of symptoms, such as new and increased muscle weakness, fatigue and...
Polio is a contagious viral illness that sometimes causes paralysis. Learn what it is like to live with polio from a patient in this disease condition video.
Polio is a contagious viral illness that sometimes causes paralysis. Learn what it is like to live with polio from a patient in this disease condition video.