What are the symptoms of polio?

Many parents don't know much about diseases like polio, so when their children are sick, they often fail to detect the disease in time and delay treatment, missing the best time for treatment. In order to help people detect and treat diseases early, let's talk about the symptoms of polio. I hope it will be helpful to everyone.

Symptoms of polio:

During the epidemic season, if susceptible people come into contact with patients and develop symptoms such as sweating, irritability, hyperesthesia, sore throat, neck, back and limb pain, stiffness, and loss of tendon reflexes, this disease should be suspected. The prodromal period should be differentiated from general upper respiratory tract infections, influenza, gastroenteritis, etc. Patients in the early stages of paralysis should be differentiated from various viral encephalitis, purulent meningitis, tuberculous meningitis, and epidemic encephalitis B. The appearance of flaccid paralysis is helpful for diagnosis. The incubation period is 3 to 35 days, generally 7 to 14 days. According to the severity of symptoms and the presence or absence of paralysis, it can be divided into latent infection, abortive type, non-paralysis type, and paralysis type.

Asymptomatic infection: No symptoms appear after infection. Virus reproduction only stays in the digestive tract, does not produce viremia, and does not penetrate the central nervous system. However, the virus can be isolated from the pharynx and feces, and specific neutralizing antibodies can be found in the body. Abortive (mild) viruses invade non-neural tissues throughout the body. Clinical symptoms lack specificity, and may include ① symptoms of upper respiratory tract inflammation, such as varying degrees of fever, pharyngeal discomfort, pharyngeal congestion and hyperplasia of posterior pharyngeal wall lymphoid tissue, swollen tonsils, etc.; ② gastrointestinal symptoms, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea or constipation, abdominal discomfort, etc.; ③ flu-like symptoms, joint and muscle aches, etc. Symptoms last for 1 to 3 days and recover on their own.

Non-paralytic type: polio virus invades the central nervous system, and circulating nerve fibers spread throughout the body. Symptoms of this stage may appear at the beginning of the disease, but most patients may be asymptomatic or have reduced symptoms for 1 to 6 days after the prodromal period, and then enter this stage. The paralytic type is characterized by the clinical manifestations of the non-paralytic type, plus lesions involving the gray matter of the anterior horn of the spinal cord, the brain and cranial nerves, leading to muscle paralysis.

Wherever polio vaccines are widely used, the disease has almost disappeared. Every child should receive the Sabin oral vaccine (attenuated oral polio vaccine) in early infancy to protect against all three types of polio. As with many infections, children start out feeling sick, with fever and headache. They may vomit, be constipated, or have some diarrhea. Most cases do not progress to paralysis, and some recover completely. If some degree of paralysis remains after the acute infection is over, the child must continue to receive regular specialized treatment.

Through the detailed introduction of the symptoms of polio in the above article, we can understand the symptoms of polio, which can help people detect and treat it early. We also hope that we as parents can help our children prevent polio.