What is polio?

What is polio?

Polio (poliomyelitis) is an infectious disease caused by a virus that invades the nervous system through the mouth (faecal-oral route). Initial symptoms are fever, fatigue, headache, vomiting, stiffness in the neck and pain in the limbs. One in 200 infections cause irreversible paralysis, usually in the legs. About one in 10 of those paralysed die.

Who is the most at risk?

Polio mainly affects children under 5 years.

Can polio be cured?

There is no cure for polio, but it can be prevented. Polio vaccine (drops), given multiple times till the age of 5, protect a child for life.

How many oral polio drops does a child need?

A child should get four doses of oral polio vaccine in the first year with supplementary doses till the age of five on the immunisation days.

How is a country declared polio free?

Before a country can be certified polio-free, it should have at least three years of zero polio cases. Since the launch of the 1988 Global Polio Eradication Initiative to eradicate polio, 5 million people - mainly in the developing world - who would otherwise have been paralysed, will be free of polio.