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The first case of polio in 27 years has emerged in Malaysia. In Tuaran, Sabah, Borneo, a three-month-old boy fell ill. Malaysian authorities have launched a vaccination campaign. What do we know about polio?
Polio in Malaysia
The 27-month-old boy from Tuaran is Malaysia’s first polio patient in 1992 years. The last such case was recorded in 6. The boy was taken to hospital on December XNUMX. He had a fever and muscle weakness. Doctors diagnosed him with polio. The boy was hooked up to life-support equipment. Its condition is described as stable.
The Malaysian authorities ordered that the region be vaccinated after it found out that 23 of the nearly 200 children between the ages of 2 months and 15 years had not been vaccinated. Malaysia has been recognized as a polio-free country by the WHO since 2000.
Earlier, polio also appeared in the Philippines. What kind of illness is that?
The most important information about polio
Polio, also known as Heine-Medin disease, is caused by three types of polio viruses in the enterovirus family. The disease is transmitted through food and droplets, through contact with an infected person, as well as items contaminated with feces and pharyngeal secretions. Following infection, the virus has an incubation time in the gut between 9 and 12 days.
It then attacks nearby lymph nodes and the circulatory system. At this stage, antibodies may develop and the infection will be stopped. However, if it doesn’t, polio will spread throughout the body. Children under the age of five are most vulnerable to the disease.
More about polio: Heine-Medin disease what does it mean and who does it affect?
The ancients had polio. Symptoms of the disease can be seen in Egyptian paintings and sculptures that depict figures with slender legs or children walking with a cane. The English physician Michael Underwood first described polio as “weakness of the lower limbs” in 1789. Jakob Heine in 1840 and Karl Oskar Medin in 1890 also worked on the disease. common name for polio, or Heine-Medina disease.
In the 1950s and 1960s, vaccines for polio were invented and the disease was virtually eliminated in industrialized countries. Only vaccination provides protection against polio. The disease is incurable, you can only alleviate its symptoms.
According to WHO data, thanks to vaccines, the number of wild-type polio virus has dropped by more than 99%. since 1988. The number of polio cases reported has decreased from approximately 350 in 000 endemic countries to 125 cases reported in 33. Type 2018 polio virus was eradicated in 2. In contrast, the last case of wild type 1999 polio virus was reported in Nigeria in 3. He hasn’t shown up since then.
Iron lung – breathing aid for polio
The iron lung was a kind of respirator. It allowed people to breathe when their respiratory muscles were failing. The iron lung was used by children with polio. Some weeks, others even several dozen years. One of the male polio sufferers, Paul Alexander, used an iron lung for over 64 years. He spent almost 1952 hours in the machine. During this time, he managed to complete his law degree. He is not an active advocate because he is paralyzed from the neck down. However, he has the strength to write his autobiography. Alexander contracted polio in XNUMX at the age of six. After less than a week, he stopped breathing and the doctors decided to place him in an iron lung.
It is a special chamber in which negative pressure is generated in the chest. The ends of the cylinder are closed with a special door, in which there is a hole for the head and neck. There are gaskets around the opening to prevent air flow. As the pressure in the chamber drops, the lungs expand and you inhale. The exhalation is usually passive.
In this way, the polio sufferers were kept alive. Fortunately, thanks to vaccines, the disease has been virtually eliminated.
Vaccination against polio in Poland
In Poland, vaccination against polio is compulsory and is carried out in three doses of the primary vaccination – at 3-4, 5-6 and 16-18 months of age. A booster dose is given at the age of 6. The vaccine is administered subcutaneously or intramuscularly and contains inactivated polioviruses.
Editors recommend:
- A case of polio in Venezuela. The first in 30 years
- Vaccination against polio – types, effectiveness, side effects
- The deadly diseases we (almost) defeated in the XNUMXth century
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Source: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/malaysia-first-polio-case-since-1992-12165376, https://www.who.int/en/news-room/fact-sheets/ detail / poliomyelitis