What are the symptoms of infantile polio?

Everyone knows that polio is a very terrible disease. If the symptoms of polio in children can be discovered early, polio can be treated early, which can reduce the harm of polio to children. In fact, there are still some symptoms before polio occurs. Parents can find them if they are careful enough. So what are the symptoms of polio in infants?

(1) Mild poliomyelitis mainly occurs in children. The clinical manifestations are mild and the central nervous system is not affected. Symptoms such as mild fever, malaise, headache, sore throat, vomiting, diarrhea or constipation appear 3 to 5 days after exposure to the pathogen, and generally recover within 24 to 72 hours. Flu-like symptoms, joint and muscle aches, etc. may also occur. Symptoms last for 1 to 3 days and then recover on their own.

(2) Severe cases often stabilize for a few days after the mild course, and then suddenly develop. More commonly, there is no prodromal symptom, especially in older children and adults. The incubation period is generally 7 to 14 days, occasionally longer. After the onset of fever, severe headache, stiff neck and back, deep muscle pain, sometimes hyperesthesia and paresthesia, urinary retention and muscle spasm in the acute phase, disappearance of deep tendon reflexes, may not progress further, but disappearance of deep tendon reflexes, asymmetric muscle weakness or paralysis may also occur, which mainly depends on the location of spinal cord or medulla oblongata damage. Respiratory weakness may be due to spinal cord involvement causing paralysis of respiratory muscles, or it may be due to viral damage to the respiratory center itself. Dysphagia, nasal regurgitation, and nasal voice when speaking are early signs of medulla oblongata invasion. Signs of encephalopathy are occasionally more prominent.

(3) In addition, there is another type of latent infection, in which no symptoms appear after infection. The virus reproduces only in the digestive tract and does not produce viremia or penetrate the central nervous system. However, the virus can be isolated from the pharynx and feces, and specific neutralizing antibodies can be detected in the body.

Many children with polio have a fever that lasts for a long time. If your child has a persistent fever, take him to a doctor for a check-up immediately to see if it is polio. Do not delay the treatment of polio. I hope the above introduction to the symptoms of infant polio can help you.