Does polio cause a high fever?

Many parents are worried about whether their children will be infected with polio. The first thing that comes to mind is whether polio will cause a high fever. In fact, the most common symptom of polio is fever, which is generally called "poliomyelitis", but it can also be caused by coxsackievirus, certain echoviruses and enterovirus 71.

Spinal cord damage mainly affects the lumbar and cervical spine. The brainstem or brain may also be affected. Neurons are damaged and paralysis cannot be restored; if it is compressed by congestion and edema, it can be restored to varying degrees or completely. The characteristics of paralysis are flaccidity, bilateral asymmetry, not distributed according to the distribution of peripheral nerve trunks, and not accompanied by sensory disturbances and imbalance.

The onset of poliomyelitis can be slow or rapid, and the main symptoms are fever, usually between 38℃ and 39℃, accompanied by sweating, coughing, runny nose and other upper respiratory tract inflammation symptoms. The body temperature can return to normal after 2-3 days. After 1-6 days, the fever will occur again, forming two fever peaks with the first fever, that is, "biphasic fever". This is a special fever type of poliomyelitis, which can be distinguished from colds. Subsequently, typical symptoms such as muscle pain, hyperesthesia, stiffness of the neck and back, and even limb paralysis gradually appear.

Through the above understanding of whether polio will cause high fever, we clearly know that the initial symptom of polio is fever. Although polio is very difficult to treat, as long as we have mastered some knowledge about polio, especially knowing the cause and symptoms of polio, it can help avoid the harm of polio to children. I believe everyone is familiar with the symptoms of polio introduced above.