Marco…Polio?

When I was a child around the age of 4, I had a severe case of pertussis, otherwise known as whooping cough. I would cough so hard I would pop blood vessels in my eyes and was gasping desperately for air. Now, imagine the severity of a disease like this on an even younger child, an infant even. The infant with pertussis would be completely unable to breathe on its own, due to its inability to regulate its breathing, leaving it helpless to suffocate without some sort of way to oxygenate the body’s tissues. Fortunately for us, there is an effective vaccine for this terrible disease, which prevents this horrendous pathogen from affecting our youngsters. Vaccinations are an excellent way of eradicating several diseases, including polio.

Polio is a life threatening disease caused by a virus that infects the spinal cord and may cause paralysis. This disease has been eradicated in the United States, but is still a large issue in third world countries, which still face outbreaks to this day. These outbreaks are caused by the lack of an effective vaccine being readily available for populations of children. Because of the lack of vaccination, there is nothing preventing this disease from being transmitted between people who share water/food sources! Fortunately, efforts are being made to increase the amounts of vaccines available in third world countries in order to prevent the spread of this terrifying disease.

There are two standard vaccination types for poliovirus: the oral poliovirus vaccination (OPV) and the inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV). The OPV is administered orally in small droplets, but is mainly used as a preventative measure to decrease the risk of contracting disease. OPV’s are also more commonly used on children to prevent polio. In comparison, the IPV’s are given through injection and are used to strengthen the child’s immune system to protect against polio. The disadvantage to this method is the need for a trained healthcare personnel to provide the injection. However, IPV’s are becoming more common in third world countries, often being coupled with OPV’s in order to build the strongest immune system possible. Thankfully, poliovirus is being combatted in the best way we humans know how!