Poliomyelitis

Description of virus:

Size: 50 nm diameter (50 billionths of a meter).
Shape: Sphere-shaped.
Type of virus: Picornaviridae family.
Characteristics: Has RNA, Enveloped virus.

Viral Specificity:

Body parts/tissue effected:

lymphatic system.
when it enters the bloodstream, it can then invade the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord).
directly infect nerves, which can also lead to the brain.
brain stem.
Motor nerves, or nerves that control muscle movement.
lungs.

How these tissues/organs are affected:

The Polio virus sits in the mouth for about 3 weeks and then is ingested and sits in the intestines for 8 weeks and replicates. From there, it can get into the bloodstream.
It can then go on to attack and destroy nerves controlling muscles and other organs
From bloodstream, infection happens fairly quickly because it goes through lytic cycle when it invades cells, as shown below.

d

Symptoms and Progression

There is three types of polio and each one has different symptoms.
First Stage, Mild polio: nausea, headache, vomiting and fever .
Second Stage, Non-paralytic polio: same symptoms as mild polio but with stiff neck, muscle pain and back fatigue.
Third Stage, Paralytic polio: tremor, muscle weakness, stiffness, fever constipation, muscle spasms and difficulty swallowing.

Common Methods of Transmission

Passed on through saliva and feces.
Transmitted when people don't wash their wands after eating or using the bathroom.
Sewage tainted water.
Contaminated food.
Any other way it can get in your mouth.

Treatment and Prevention

There is medicine that a doctor can prescribe you.
There is a vaccine that children that children should be given if they are between the ages of 6 weeks and 18 years old.

Historical Facts (Misc)

First clinical description of disease was written in Great Britain in 1789 by physician Michael Underwood, although evidence shows that it affected people as far back as Egyptian and Roman times.
The iron lung was created to help patients with weakened lungs to breath in 1928.
Because of vaccination, Polio was completely eradicated from the Americas in 1994 and Europe in 2002.

Resources used for this Assignment:

1. Author: D.Sander
Title: The big picture book of viruses: Picornaviridae
URL: http://www.virology.net/Big_Virology/BVRNApicorna.html
Date: 1995-2007

2. Author: n/a
Title: Polio
URL: http://www.faqs.org/health/Sick-V3/Polio.html
Date: 2010

3. Author: Polio Quebec
Title: The History of Polio
URL: http://www.polioquebec.org/History-E.html
Date: 2000-2006

4. Author: n/a
Title: How the Polio virus work
URL: http://www.americanhistory.si.edu/polio/virusvaccine/how.htm
Date: 2010

5. Author: Celia W. Dugger
Title: On the Brink: Polio
URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/20/international/asia/20polio.html
Date: March 2006

6. Author: n/a
Title: Polio
URL: http://www.mamashealth.com/polio.asp
Date: 2000-2010