Insidious poliomyelitis: vaccination, is there a need for it?

Poliomyelitis refers to viral diseases, which affect mainly children under the age of 10 years. The disease is transmitted by airborne droplets or through contaminated water, food, clothing. For several years, Russia was considered a country free from this disease, however, not so long ago, cases of infection were detected, mostly among emigrants from CIS countries. Therefore, it is so important to know what is dangerous poliomyelitis, vaccination from which will help to protect the child, minimizing the risk of infection.

The incubation period lasts up to 2 weeks. Getting into the oral cavity, the virus moves through the mucosa of the respiratory tract or the gastrointestinal tract (depending on how the infection occurred) to the brain and spinal cord. Poliomyelitis is dangerous in that it can lead to paralysis, which is completely cured in only half the cases, otherwise leading to irreversible consequences.

It should be noted that the symptoms are as follows. In cases where the disease occurs without the development of paralysis, there may appear a cough, a runny nose, a headache. The heat usually lasts a few days, after which it falls off. Also during the entire period of fever, there may be tension or, conversely, weakness in the muscles of the neck and back. Less often, but paralysis of individual muscles of the trunk, extremities, and neck appears. Usually, after a week, these symptoms pass, however, about a quarter of the diseased remain disabled.

Recently, these cases are rare, as one of the most effective means to avoid a disease such as polio-vaccination. It is introduced into the National Calendar of preventive vaccinations, hence, most children are being made.

However, parents do not always agree to vaccination, more often than not, because they do not know exactly what it is. Currently, two drugs are used for this procedure.

In the first case, this is inactivated polio vaccine, which contains killed viruses. It is injected, toddlers up to a year and a half into the subscapular area, to older children in the shoulder. At the first vaccinations in order to create immunity to a disease such as polio, the vaccination is done at intervals of 1.5-2 months three times. A year after the last administration, a revaccination is performed. After the procedure, local reactions, redness, small seals, short-term rise in temperature are possible. A kid can be capricious, worry. In most cases this is within the normal range, and no need for a doctor. However, if this condition lasts for more than a week, a pediatrician consultation will be required.

It is much more often used live poliomyelitis vaccine, which is released in the form of drops and contains modified and weakened live viruses. The children are digested with a ratstvor (2-4 drops) on the surface of the tonsils, where it begins to develop immunity in the future. In this place there are no palatine papillae, from this, the child does not feel an unpleasant taste. Otherwise, increased salivation may occur , and there is a risk that the drug will enter the stomach where it collapses. The effectiveness of protection against an infection such as polio, grafting loses. After this procedure, it is not recommended to eat and drink for an hour.

This vaccine has another unexpected, but extremely useful property: it stimulates the production of interferon, so indirectly it can protect against ARVI. The only serious, but rather rare complication after vaccination may be vaccine-associated poliomyelitis. Such a disease develops, mainly, in children with congenital immunodeficiency or gastrointestinal tract defects. However, this happens quite rarely.

Often, due to the fact that the child is in time vaccinated, poliomyelitis in the future bypasses, even in the case of contacts with infected. Adults are re-vaccinated if they are sent to areas that are dangerous for the disease.