POLIO IN CHILDREN: SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS, HOME CARE
Signs and symptoms
Of those children who develop polio, 93 to 95 percent of them have no symptoms, but develop immunity. Four to 5 percent of those infected develop a minor illness, with fever, general bodily discomfort, sore throat, and nausea for three to four days. One to 2 percent develops clinically recognizable polio, with symptoms of a minor illness plus sore, stiff muscles and a stiff neck and spine. Within this 1 or 2 percent are the children who become paralyzed or die.
Minor cases may never be recognized as polio unless they occur as part of an epidemic. Diagnosis is based on examination of viral cultures and studies of antibodies (substances that the body produces to fight disease) in the blood. If the central nervous system (the spine and the brain) is involved, the child has a stiff neck and back and may not be able to sit up without supporting the trunk with both hands braced behind in a tripod fashion. The diagnosis is confirmed by the results of a spinal tap (in which spinal fluid is withdrawn from the spinal column), cultures, or antibody studies.
Home care
The most important home treatment is prevention through immunization. The live virus vaccine (Sabin), which is given by mouth, is effective against all three types of polio, and it confers long-lasting immunity. The risk of paralysis from present-day vaccines is less than one in ten million – a far cry from the one in a thousand risk of exposure to naturally-occurring viruses.
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