Polio in Israel

Alex Goldberg8th Grade Science - Emerald

Polio

• Polio is a virus that can infect humans when they drink water polluted with sewage from other infected humans

• In about 98% of cases, polio is a mild illness, with no symptoms or minor symptoms.

• For fewer than 1%-2% of people, the virus leaves the digestive tract, enters the bloodstream, and then attacks nerve cells, leaving people paralized

• In severe cases, the throat and chest may be paralyzed. Death may result if the patient does not receive artificial breathing support.

Polio Victims and the “Iron Lung”

http://abigailpadgett.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/iron-lung-polio.jpg

Polio has been known to exist in the Middle East since Ancient Egypt

An Egyptian carving from around 1400 BCE depicting a young man with a leg deformity probably caused by polio.

http://johnpowell.net/pages/Stele.jpg

The Rise of an Epidemic

• Although it had always been around affecting a limited number of people, polio reached epidemic proportions in the early 1900s.

• Scientists think advances in hygiene led to an increased incidence of polio because people had less opportunity to develop immunity so they were more vulnerable when they were exposed late in life.

Scientists Fight Back

• Vaccines were developed to protect from polio in the 1950s– Salk developed the first vaccine made out of live polio virus

• But it infected some people who weren’t sick!

– Sabin developed a vaccine made out of dead polio virus• This didn’t get anyone sick so it was used widely

• By the late 1980s, vaccination was widespread in the developed world

• Because of widespread vaccination, polio was eliminated from the Western Hemisphere by 1994.

• Today, polio only exists in a handful of countries (Afghanistan, India, Nigeria, and Pakistan) , with occasional spread to neighboring countries.

The Scientists Won!

http://www.old.health.gov.il/Download/pages/Polio_inIsrae251109l.pdf

But We Must Stay Vigilant!

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/10/health/polio-virus-found-in-jerusalems-sewers.html