Poliomyelitis refers to viral diseases, which are mainly affected by 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 of this disease, however, not so long ago, cases of infection were detected, mostly among emigrants from the CIS countries. Therefore, it is so important to know what is dangerous polio, vaccination from which will help protect the child, minimizing the risk of infection.
The incubation period of the disease lasts up to 2 weeks. Once in the oral cavity, the virus moves through the mucous membrane of the respiratory tract or the gastrointestinal tract (depending on how the infection occurred) to the brain and spinal cord. Polio is dangerous in that it can lead to paralysis, which can be completely cured in only half of cases, otherwise leading to irreversible consequences.
It should be noted that polio symptoms have the following. In cases where the disease proceeds without the development of paralysis, cough, runny nose, headache may appear. High temperature usually lasts for several days, after which it subsides. Also, during the entire period of the fever , tension or, on the contrary, weakness in the muscles of the neck and back can appear. Less commonly, but nevertheless, paralysis of individual muscles of the trunk, limbs, and neck is manifested. Usually, after a week these symptoms disappear, however, about a quarter of patients remain disabled.
Recently, these cases are rare, as one of the most effective means of avoiding a disease such as polio vaccination. It is included in the National Calendar of Preventive Vaccinations, therefore, most of the children are given.
However, parents do not always agree to vaccination, most often because they do not know exactly what it is. Currently, two drugs are used for this procedure.
In the first case, it is an inactivated polio vaccine that contains dead viruses. It is injected, for babies up to one and a half years into the subscapular region, for older children in the shoulder. At the first vaccinations, in order to create immunity to a disease such as polio, the vaccine is given with an interval of 1.5-2 months three times. After a year from the last injection, revaccination is carried out. After the procedure, local reactions, redness, small seals, short-term temperature rise are possible. The kid can be capricious, worry. In most cases, this is within the normal range, and no medical treatment is required. However, if this condition lasts more than a week, a pediatrician consultation will be required.
Much more often, a live polio vaccine is used, which is available in the form of drops and contains modified and weakened live viruses. A solution (2-4 drops) is instilled into the children on the surface of the tonsils, where immunity begins to develop 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 begin , and there is a risk that the drug will enter the stomach, where it is destroyed. The effectiveness of protection against infections such as polio, the vaccine at the same time loses. After this procedure, it is not recommended to eat and drink for an hour.
Such a vaccine has one more unexpected, but extremely useful property: it stimulates the production of interferon, therefore, 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 defects. However, this happens quite rarely.
Often, precisely due to the fact that the child is vaccinated on time, polio in the future bypasses, even in case of contact with infected people. Adults are revaccinated if they are sent to areas dangerous for the disease.