Have you ever heard of poliomyelitis? Well, if not, you may have heard of polio. Polio was one of the most feared diseases in the early 20th century. This disease was known to paralyze hundreds of thousands of children each year. The polio epidemic was a terrible fear for every parent in 1916. However, you may be wondering why is polio so deadly? Well, first let's talk about the two different types of polio. There are two types of non-paralytic polio and paralytic polio. Non-paralytic polio is a form of polio that does not cause paralysis in patients. This type of polio can have many symptoms. These symptoms are also very common in other viral diseases. Some common symptoms are fever, sore throat, headache, vomiting, fatigue, back pain or stiffness, neck pain or stiffness, pain or stiffness in the arms or legs, and weakness. or muscle tenderness. However, the most serious type of polio is known as paralytic polio. This is why polio was so feared because it was the deadliest and most serious form of the disease. However, the signs and symptoms of paralytic polio include symptoms such as fever and headache, loss of reflexes, severe muscle pain or weakness, loose and floppy limbs, and limp paralysis. Many of these patients also experienced significant loss of muscle tone. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Now, that brings us to our next point: What does polio do to the body? Well, polio involves damage to motor neurons in the spinal cord. It is characterized by an asymmetrical and flabby paralysis of the muscles, mainly of the lower limbs. Bulbar polio or paralytic polio involves damage to neurons in a reticular or square formation. This can cause significant harm to the body, as it can damage the cranial nerve nuclei in the brainstem. Unfortunately, this disease did not only affect limb paralysis. The polio virus is also known to reduce the respiratory capacity of patients. Polio can even affect swallowing and speaking depending on the severity of the disease. Poliovirus can be transmitted in several ways. However, direct contact with people infected with the virus is most common. This is very similar to what we are experiencing with covid 19. Large gatherings of people close together or close together make it easier for diseases like this to spread quickly from person to person. Although polio is primarily spread from person to person, it can also be spread in other ways. Polioviruses can also be transmitted through contaminated food and water. Some people with poliovirus can also spread the virus for weeks through their stools. However, people with this deadly virus and no symptoms can transmit the virus to others just as easily. Overall, the polio epidemic had a huge impact on the world. In fact, the death rate from paralytic polio ranges from five to fifteen percent. During the polio epidemic, an average of 16,316 cases of paralytic polio and 1,879 polio deaths were reported annually (Achievements in Public Health, 1900-1999 Impact of Universally Recommended Vaccines for Children -- United States, 1990-1998 The polio virus is mainly.affects children aged five or younger. About one in two infections causes irreversible paralysis in children with polio. Of the percentage of paralyzed children, five to ten percent die due to immobilization of their respiratory muscles. is common in children, it is also possible to contract polio a second time, because as adults, children who appear to fully recover may develop post-polio syndrome which can cause new muscle pain, weakness or paralysis in adulthood. 15 to 40 years later, post-polio syndrome can lead to polio survivors years later developing an initial attack of the polio virus. Most of the time, polio survivors begin to experience slight new weakening of the muscles that were previously affected by the polio virus when they were children. Most of the time, post-polio syndrome is not life-threatening. However, the symptoms can greatly affect the patient and interfere with their ability to function independently. These patients may suffer from respiratory muscle weakness, which can lead to difficulty breathing properly. This brings us to our next point. How did doctors treat polio patients? Well, patients with severe cases of polio that affected their ability to breathe were introduced to a machine called an iron lung. The iron lung was designed in 1928. It consisted of a large metal cylinder in which the patient's entire body was enclosed below the neck. In the iron lung, the patient's head protruded through an airtight rubber neck seal. The iron lung is a ventilation system. There are two types of ventilation systems, there are positive fans which are the fans we know best today. Positive pressure ventilators are usually attached to the endotracheal tube, trake tube, or to the patient's face with a face mask. However, the iron lung uses negative pressure to give breathing to its patients, which works very differently from the normal positive pressure ventilator. The use of negative pressure ventilators peaked in the 1950s due to the polio epidemic. Negative pressure ventilators work on the principle of increasing the volume of the lungs by intermittently applying negative pressure to the entire body. These negative pressure devices transmit negative pressure through the chest wall into the pleural spaces and into the alveoli (bags in the lungs) to help the patient breathe. These devices allowed exhalation to be passive and simply dependent on the elastic recoil of the lungs and chest wall. These machines were not very portable and it was also difficult to provide routine care to patients. Although the iron lung is primarily known for treating polio, another machine was also used that was simpler and less expensive than tank devices like the iron lung. . This device was called a chest ventilator and became the ventilator primarily used to treat paralyzed polio patients. The chest ventilator used the same negative pressure concept as the iron lung, it was just much smaller and the patient's entire body did not need to be in the device. In this device, only the patient's chest had to be covered by the machine, leaving the head, neck, arms free and legs free. this machine was much more comfortable for patients and well tolerated compared to the iron lung. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get now