Poliomyelitis, often called polio or infantile paralysis, is a virally induced infectious disease which spreads via the fecal-oral route.
It may proceed to the blood stream and into the central nervous system causing muscle weakness and often paralysis.
Polio is a communicable disease which is categorized as a disease of civilization.
Polio spreads through human-to-human contact, usually entering the body through the mouth due to fecally contaminated water or food (fecal-oral transmission).
The incubation period of polio, from the time of first exposure to first symptoms, ranges from three to 35 days.
During the late 1940's and early 1950's, a research group headed by Dr.
John Enders at Boston's Children's Hospital successfuly cultivated the polio virus in human tissue.
This highly significant breakthrough ultimately allowed for the development of vaccines against polio.
For more information about the topic Polio, read the full article at Wikipedia.org, or see the following related articles:
Transmission (medicine) In medicine, transmission is the passing of a disease from an infected individual or group to a previously uninfected individual or group. In order ... >
read more
Human parainfluenza viruses Human parainfluenza viruses (HPIVs) are a group of four distinct serotypes of single-stranded RNA viruses belonging to the paramyxovirus family. They ... >
read more
Incubation period Incubation period, also called the latent period or latency period, is the time elapsed between exposure to a pathogenic organism, or chemical or ... >
read more
Hepatitis A Hepatitis A is an enterovirus transmitted by the orofecal route, such as contaminated food. It causes an acute form of hepatitis and does not have a ... >
read more
Vaccination Vaccination is the process of administering weakened or dead pathogens to a healthy person or animal, with the intent of conferring immunity against ... >
read more
Pathogen A pathogen or infectious agent is a biological agent that causes disease or illness to its host. The term is most often used for agents that disrupt ... >
read more
Encephalitis Encephalitis is an acute inflammation of the brain, commonly caused by a viral infection. Sometimes, encephalitis can result from a bacterial ... >
read more
Infectious disease In medicine, infectious disease or communicable disease is disease caused by a biological agent such as by a virus, bacterium or parasite. This is ... >
read more
Measles Measles, also known as rubeola, is a disease caused by a virus of the genus Morbillivirus. In 1954, the virus causing the disease was isolated, and ... >
read more
Rubella Rubella (also known as epidemic roseola, German measles, liberty measles or three-day measles) is a disease caused by the Rubella virus. It is often ... >
read more
Note: This page refers to an article that is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the article Polio at Wikipedia.org. See the Wikipedia copyright page for more details. Editor's Note: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.
Recommend this page on Facebook, Twitter,
and Google +1:
Other bookmarking and sharing tools: