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Australia has a great website on polio, visit here. 

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Australia has a great website on polio, visit here. 

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Polio

Contents

Polio is a disease that used to cause problems all over the world, but now it only happens in very few parts of the world because children every where else have been immunised against polio.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has been working very hard to make sure that everyone can be immunized against polio so that this disease can be stamped out in the whole world.

Poliomyelitis (say po-lio-my-el-eye-tis) - or polio for short - is the result an infection which rarely causes some children and adults to lose the ability to move parts of their body (paralysis). Maybe they cannot move their legs or arms, or sometimes they cannot even breathe by themselves.

Children under 5 are most at risk of catching polio but only a few develop problems with movement.

How is polio caught?

Polio is a very infectious disease. It is passed from one person to another through contact with faeces (say fee-sees, you may call it poo).

Often the germs are in the water that people drink or the food that they eat.

What are the effects of polio virus infection?

It causes a virus infection in the bowel.

Most people who get the infection do not become ill with it but a few people become ill with a bad headache, feeling sick (nausea) and vomiting (throwing up).

A very small number of these people get paralysis (pa-ra-li-sis) of parts of their body.

In the olden days

Polio has been around for many centuries. There are even pictures from ancient Egypt which show that many people suffered from the disease.

There have been several polio epidemics in Australia. The last one was in 1961-62. People who got polio were put into isolation (kept away from other people).

Some had trouble with breathing and needed a machine to do their breathing for them. These were called respirators but were often known as 'iron lungs'.

Paralysed legs were sometimes strapped to metal rods (splints) to try to keep them straight. This was done in the hope that one day the paralysis would pass and the person would be able to use the limbs again.

People may have needed to use crutches or a wheelchair.

What kids say

"My dad's grandma had polio. She was in a wheelchair for a while then she learned to walk again but she always walked with a limp." Alex

"My mum's friend had polio and he couldn't walk. But he learnt how to drive a car using hand controls." David

"I read about a lady who had polio and she lived for 60 years in a machine that helped her breathe." Megan

How to avoid polio

In Australia polio vaccines are given at the ages of 2, 4 and 6 months, and another dose before the child starts school.

Some other vaccines are given at the same time. These protect children from getting tetanus, diphtheria, whooping cough, rota virus gastro, hepatitis B and Hib. This last one is to protect against a germ which can cause ear and throat infections, and meningitis (an infection around the brain) in young children. Other immunisations that children get at different ages are against measles, mumps and rubella.

Dr Kate says

In Australia no-one has been paralysed by polio since 1977. The reason for this is that people have been immunised against it not just here but in almost all countries of the world. So, even if people brought the polio virus to Australia the disease would not cause paralysis in anyone else because they have been immunized.

This is good because there have been times when polio caused many children to be very sick and have to spendtheir days being unable to run around and play like other kids.

If you want to know more about what is being done to get rid of polio from the whole world you could look at information on the WHO website http://www.who.int/topics/poliomyelitis/en/

Do you know that Health Authorities all over the world have worked with the World Health Organisation to immunise children for any years? They have even stopped wars for a few days in some countries by declaring Days of Tranquility when thousands of health workers and volunteers immunised all the children in the war zones.

If you want to know more about polio in Australia you could look at the topic Poliovirus infection - including symptoms, treatment and prevention on the South Australian Health Department site.

We've provided this information to help you to understand important things about staying healthy and happy. However, if you feel sick or unhappy, it is important to tell your mum or dad, a teacher or another grown-up.

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disease;  paralysis; virus; infection; immunisation;

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Contents Polio is a disease that used to cause problems all over the world, but now it only happens in very few parts of the world because children every where else have been immunised against polio.

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The World Health Organization also has some great information for us as we start Small Steps

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The World Health Organization also has some great information for us as we start Small Steps

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Poliomyelitis (polio) is a highly infectious viral disease that largely affects children under 5 years of age. The virus is transmitted by person-to-person spread mainly through the faecal-oral route or, less frequently, by a common vehicle (e.g. contaminated water or food) and multiplies in the intestine, from where it can invade the nervous system and cause paralysis.

In 1988, the World Health Assembly adopted a resolution for the worldwide eradication of polio, marking the launch of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, spearheaded by national governments, WHO, Rotary International, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), UNICEF, and later joined by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.

Wild poliovirus cases have decreased by over 99% since 1988, from an estimated 350 000 cases in more than 125 endemic countries to 6 reported cases in 2021. Of the 3 strains of wild poliovirus (type 1, type 2 and type 3), wild poliovirus type 2 was eradicated in 1999 and wild poliovirus type 3 was eradicated in 2020. As at 2022, endemic wild poliovirus type 1 remains in two countries: Pakistan and Afghanistan.

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Poliomyelitis (polio) is a highly infectious viral disease that largely affects children under 5 years of age. The virus is transmitted by person-to-person spread mainly through the faecal-oral route or, less frequently, by a common vehicle (e.g. contaminated water or food) and multiplies in the intestine, from where it can invade the nervous system and cause paralysis.

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As you start Small Steps, think of what we are experiencing today - how are things similar to what we are going through now?

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Kids got Polio more than adults did. It got spread in warm weather so parents kept their kid away from public places in the summer. They were kind of doing shelter and place.

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I feel so bad for the Peg. With her muscels tightening like that, that must have felt awful.

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That would have been horrible. Peg was in isolation other than the nurses, and she could not move by herself. that also must have been horrible to go to sleep fine, and then wake up without being able to move.

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It's really different that kids got Polio more than adults did, because with the coronavirus, it's less likely for kids to get it. I feel so bad for Peg. I just feel really bad for her. This book is so good so far.

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The book made it seem like we were Peg and that we had to go to the hospital far away from home and that we had no idea how long we would be gone.
I feel bad for those kids who had to stay inside during summer because the parents were scared that there kids would contract polio because it spread in warm weather. I think that polio is like our coronavirus and you have you stay isolated to have a better chance of not getting Covid-19.
I also thought that this book would be the type of nonfiction with dates, pictures, captions and stuff like that. I don't like books like that. Is this actually nonfiction or is it really realistic fiction?

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I must admit, I did not think that I would like small steps. It could be a realistic fiction story, and it is interesting. I feel so bad for the girl, I do not know what I would do without my legs.

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The websites were really interesting. I did not know so many people suffered from polio. I am so glad for the people who made a vaccine. I hope they can do it again!(:

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The book kind of made me feel like I had polio because she said how she feel and it sound so real. I feel bad for her because she has to go to a hospital that's far away from her house and she doesn't know how long she going to be there.

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I really like this book so far. I did not realize that it was going to seem like realistic fiction. Is it nonfiction? I thought it was going to be nonfiction with, like, photos and captions, and dates and stuff. That kind of book is not my style. I like this book because it is good at description. It really made me understand how she feels. I have probably pretended not to be sick so I could stay at school before, I totally get it until she had to be taken to the hospital. I cannot imagine trying to move my arms and legs and then not being able to.

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I feel real bad for Peg, I didn't know those were the symptoms of Polio. oh, my, I hate this, so sad. wow, this seems so like COVID-19, except they're still going to school. I NEED to keep reading, thanks Jillian for saying two chapters. oh, my again. she has two kinds of Polio, that's really awful. THREE!!!!!!!!!!! this is so wacko, i could think that this story was not real. i really like this book, can we please keep reading, like the whole thing today, i would love that. this book is so sad and so good at cliff hangers too. I agree with Lucy, i would not think this is nonfiction.