Poliomyelitis - what is it and how is it transmitted? Prevention of disease

Lately there has been a lot of talk about poliomyelitis, especially after the outbreak of an acute infectious disease was registered in one of the regions of Ukraine. The disease is really terrible. High mortality and a huge percentage of disability is caused by poliomyelitis. What is it and how is the disease transmitted, let's try to figure it out together now.

Nature of the

virus Poliomyelitis has another name - children's dorsal paralysis. At risk are children aged 6 months to 6 years. After the poliovirus has entered the body of the child, poliomyelitis develops. How is this terrible disease transmitted? The simplest and most common way - airborne droplets. It is safely carried various insects, in addition, it gets to a person through unwashed food or dirty hands.

Poliovirus is very tenacious: in the external environment it is able to stay for about half a year, without fear of frost and sun. The source of the infection is a person, especially if he has found the erased and mild forms of the disease. From it to the external environment, the pathogens fall along with bowel movements and nasal mucus. The most infectious patient becomes three days before the fever and within a week after its appearance. Outbreaks of the virus are usually observed in the summer and autumn, a particularly dangerous period - from August to October.

How does the pathogen work?

Infection enters the body through the oral cavity. It settles in the intestine, where it successfully thrives and multiplies. The virus affects the motor nerve cells, as well as the gray membrane of the spinal cord. As a result, whole muscle groups atrophy. Nerve cells die, and the sick child becomes a serious disability.

We have already figured out how poliomyelitis is transmitted. Symptoms of the disease appear in a person after he inhaled the pathogen or picked it up from the environment with the help of hands. At first, it seems that the usual acute respiratory infection develops: the patient has a runny nose, cough, fever, and in some cases, diarrhea. Parents mistakenly do not go to the doctor, because after a few days all the symptoms disappear, and the baby looks healthy. And after two days he wakes up and can not stand on legs - the child develops flaccid paralysis of the lower extremities. Very young children can paralyze the airways: they feel suffocation and can die from cardiac arrest.

Signs of poliomyelitis

Doctors for decades have been studying polio: what it is and how the virus is transmitted. And they found that the symptoms in the disease can vary in different people. Usually signs of a respiratory infection are observed at all. Simultaneously, they may be associated with severe pain in the throat, as with angina, or a migraine, similar to the one that accompanies the flu. Dyspeptic disorders are also possible: severe diarrhea, nausea and vomiting.

Sluggish leg paralysis develops over a period of five days. Some children, he strikes with lightning - a few hours. These children have significantly reduced muscle tone, tendon reflexes are observed. The musculature atrophies very quickly: the child can not walk, becoming disabled. Death ends when the virus affects the medulla oblongata, in which the centers of the heart and respiratory system are located. The incubation period lasts seven days to two weeks. Poliomyelitis is of several varieties: spinal, encephalitic, bulbar, pontine, mixed, and also with absence of paralysis - visceral, meningitis and asymptomatic.

Basic stages of

Is poliomyelitis transmitted by airborne droplets? Certainly. At the same time during the initial stage of the disease a person, in addition to all the above-mentioned signs of a cold, feels sluggish and tired. He complains of insomnia, cramps, uncontrolled twitching of muscles, pain in the spine, legs and arms. If vaccination has been carried out, the disease will not go to the next stage, which is already called paralytic. She is very deceptive. The kid, it would seem, is recovering. His temperature drops, activity increases. But after a few days there is paralysis. Usually, it affects the legs, but also the muscles of the neck, trunk, abdomen and deltas, and also the larynx, nasopharynx, tongue and face. Two weeks later, a dangerous third stage sets in, asymmetrical dislocations, atrophy.

The recovery period takes six months. A person gets a little better, but he continues to have limited movement, lack of mobility in the joints, a decrease in muscle volume is progressing. Then the residual phenomena begin to appear - this is the period of persistent flaccid paralysis, contractures, deformation of the spine and shortening of the limbs.

Diagnosis

Whether poliomyelitis is contagious and how this infection is transmitted, both adults and children should know. To this end, it is necessary to develop public education programs in schools. In special lessons children will be able to learn everything about the nature of the infection and its most common symptoms, in order to detect the danger and act in time. By the way, if you suspect a pathogen in the body, you should immediately go to the hospital for qualified help. To confirm the diagnosis, doctors will hold a lumbar puncture - a puncture in the lumbar region in order to study the fluid in the spinal cord.

The patient will take tests and send them to the laboratory, where they will make virological and serological diagnostics. Paired blood sera will be analyzed in detail: they are usually done at intervals of three weeks. In addition, poliomyelitis is diagnosed by means of a so-called color test: a cell culture infected with a virus will change its shade under the influence of a special indicator. The result will be known in two days.

Treatment of

Remember that effective therapy does not exist. In fact, polio is not treated. What is the first disease transmitted? As already mentioned, this is an airborne path. And the patient is often considered a particular time infectious. To protect others from the source of the virus, a person is urgently hospitalized in an infectious hospital - in a special isolated box. Here he will stay for about 40 days, during which he will receive symptomatic therapy aimed at weakening the main signs of the disease and strengthening immunity.

The patient will receive amino acids, vitamins and gamma globulin - a protein present in the blood plasma. If the respiratory system is affected, the child is connected to the apparatus on which the artificial ventilation of the lungs is carried out. Bed rest is mandatory for at least three weeks. Special care is required for the affected limbs and spine. The patient lies on a firm mattress in a certain position: the legs are laid with a roller in a slightly bent position, the feet - at a right angle to the shin. In this case, the hands are diverted to the sides and at an angle of 90º bend at the elbow joints.

Recovery period

After the course of treatment in the clinic, the parents of the baby should have a detailed conversation with the attending physician. The conversation will concern not only the main issues that poliomyelitis posed to them - what it is and how the disease is transmitted - but also the important moment, like rehabilitation. Most likely, during the recovery period, the physician will recommend electrostimulation, paraffin baths, water treatments and therapeutic massage. The patient must be sent to a sanatorium where he will go through healing with healing mud and sulfur baths.

The child should be written down for classes to the orthopedist, which will help to correct deformities of the limbs and developed contractures. To normalize the neuromuscular conduction, prescribe such drugs as "Prozerin" or "Neuromidine."Effective and therapeutic exercise: it not only improves the motor functions, but also has a general strengthening effect. The complex of exercises is introduced into the therapeutic complex only after passing the acute period of the disease.

Prevention of infection

The claim that poliomyelitis is inherited is erroneous. It can be picked up only by a contact method: infectious secretions of the upper respiratory tract and feces are considered. In addition, pathogens get into the human body through infected food and water, unwashed hands, dirty toys. They are also suffering from flies.

In order not to become another victim of poliomyelitis, a person should know how to prevent possible infection. First, you need to keep food hygiene. Before eating, all fruits and vegetables should be washed, you can drink only distilled or boiled water. Secondly, personal hygiene is important: hand washing, regular washing of clothes, change of bed linen. Thirdly, it is necessary to maintain cleanliness in the house. It is about airing the room and frequent wet cleaning. As for the actions on the part of doctors, they are obliged to conduct disinfection in the center of the disease and necessarily isolate sick people and those who contacted them.

Other preventive measures

The question of whether poliomyelitis is transmitted should no longer occur. He not only actively "travels" from one person to another, but also feels great, staying in the external environment. Prevention of infection - vaccination. Vaccination is done to babies at the age of 4, 5 and 6 months. Revaccination is usually carried out in a year and a half, and also when the child is 3, 6 and 14 years old. Small patients are given drops: they are injected into the mouth on the lymphoid tissue. This is the so-called vaccination of a weakened vaccine.
Among school children, intramuscular injections are popularized. They are based on a vaccine containing killed polioviruses. Introduced subcutaneously: small children - in the area of ​​scapula, scary - in the shoulder. The baby who received the shot transfers the so-called vaccinated poliomyelitis. It is absolutely safe for the body. In addition, on its basis immunity is formed: the body begins to produce the necessary antibodies to a dangerous and incurable virus.

Interesting facts about vaccination

There are many nuances concerning this topic. For example, parents are often interested in the question: is poliomyelitis transmitted after vaccination or not? According to doctors, the virus that got into the body of a regular vaccinated child is not dangerous for him. But he, trying to "break through" through a protective background, begins to change. Once in several vaccinated organisms, it finally mutates and only then it can threaten a person. It is interesting, but grafted children still for a while seem to "radiate" poliomyelitis. However, it is impossible to get infected from them to a healthy baby. However, if a patient with HIV is present next to the grafted carapace, then it must be immediately isolated.

Children who get poliomyelitis can not be vaccinated. Vaccinations are also contraindicated to people with HIV, those who take medications for a long time or who are allergic to medicines. The vaccine has no side effects, doctors say. The only trouble can be a rise in temperature, but this fact should not cause concern - the body begins to produce the necessary immunity to it.

What triggers the development of the disease?

There are factors that significantly weaken the body. Accordingly, they can make a person vulnerable, "attracting" to him the ill-fated poliomyelitis. How the virus is transmitted, we already know. Now we will consider those circumstances that will become a fertile breeding ground for pathogens:

• Complete absence of vaccinations or incomplete vaccination.
• Close contact with a sick person.
• Injuries.
• Operational interventions.
• Strong physical activity.
• Pregnancy.
• Taking medication, especially in the form of injections.

Every person is at risk for getting poliomyelitis. In Russia, there are also increased risks of catching the virus due to migration from Tajikistan to indigenous people, who are often carriers of the virus. Now on the border, all visitors from this country are vaccinated, and also informed that it is necessary to undergo mandatory repeat vaccination. In addition, supervision of the implementation of elementary sanitary rules has been significantly strengthened at checkpoints.

How to protect children?

In order to protect children, it is first of all necessary to know how poliomyelitis is transmitted. In children, infection occurs very quickly, especially if among them is the focus of infection. Therefore, in order to prevent the spread of the disease in institutions where minors study and stay, the following activities are practiced:

1. If there is a threat of a virus outbreak, new kids are not accepted for school, sanatorium and health resorts.
2. Unauthorized persons are forbidden to visit any children's institutions.
3. No translation of children into another group or class.
4. In the premises there is a regular wet cleaning: at least in the morning and in the evening. Also the rooms are well ventilated or ventilated.
5. Children are required to wash their hands frequently during the day, other rules of personal hygiene are observed.

In addition, the district pediatrician is obliged to inspect the babies daily. At the first sign of poliomyelitis, children are hospitalized in an infectious hospital.

Memo for parents

They also require competent and prompt action. First, adults must comply with the schedule of vaccination: do the vaccine in a timely manner, comply with all the prescriptions of the doctor. Secondly, they are obliged to teach children to wash their hands with soap after going to the toilet, staying on the street, and before eating. Thirdly, parents need to tell the heirs what harm they are carrying by unwashed vegetables and fruits, water from the tap. They must constantly clean the apartment and air it.

Now you know about many interesting facts about poliomyelitis( what is it and how is it transmitted).Do not forget also that the subcutaneous vaccine has many advantages compared to that administered through the mouth. Its advantages are as follows: it gives one hundred percent immunity, does not cause intestinal disorders and other complications. After drops the baby within two months "radiates" a virus that can create danger for not vaccinated associates or those which have weak immunity.