Polio survivors face biggest fight of their lives

23/10/2024 0 Comments read Health & Science, Poliomyelitis

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 23.10.2024 (SciDev.Net): Every year, 24 October is observed as World Polio Day, while the whole month is designated to raising awareness of the disease. Polio or poliomyelitis is a highly infectious, crippling and sometimes even fatal disease, which mainly affects children under five, and can be prevented with a vaccine. In 1988, the World Health Assembly, WHO’s decision-making body, committed to eradicating polio and this is close to being achieved.

The awareness day and month emphasise the importance of maintaining high immunisation coverage to protect every child from this disease and prevent it from returning. But it is also an opportunity to highlight the lifelong consequences faced by those who survived the disease and the urgent, less understood and often neglected need to invest in their medical care and rehabilitation.

Many polio survivors, including those with non-paralytic polio or undiagnosed polio, face the threat of debilitating late effects of the disease several decades after their initial illness. They are at risk of experiencing the Late Effects of Polio (LEoP) and/or its subset Post-Polio Syndrome (PPS), which can lead to decreased mobility and muscle function.

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Why polio survivors may benefit from a lung function test

14/03/2023 0 Comments read Disability, Health & Science, Poliomyelitis

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 14.03.2023 (Allergy and Respiratory Republic): Basic lung function tests could go a long way in preventing complications in polio survivors as they age. These patients often require specific respiratory assessment and recommendations for physiotherapy, orthotics and assistive technology to manage their condition, experts say.

“It is only in the last 20 to 30 years that there has been a better recognition of respiratory compromise in polio survivors,” Dr Stephen de Graaff, director of Pain Services and senior rehabilitation physician at Epworth Healthcare in Melbourne, tells ARR. “Respiratory physicians have a better knowledge and understanding of Late Effects of Polio and Post Polio Syndrome than previously, but we are still learning. Even within the universities and the medical fraternity, teaching emphasises the acute poliomyelitis condition rather than the Late Effects of Poliomyelitis or PPS.”

“The commonest cause of respiratory compromise in polio survivors relates to restrictive lung disease (a decrease in the total volume of air that the lungs are able to hold), but this is often confused with having obstructive lung disease as in asthma, chronic bronchitis or emphysema. However, it doesn’t exclude them from having obstructive lung disease”, says Dr de Graaff.

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What clinicians need to know when treating polio survivors

16/02/2023 0 Comments read Health & Science, Poliomyelitis

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 16.02.2023 (The Medical Republic): While Australia was declared polio-free in 2000, there is a major need to invest in medical care of many of the tens of thousands of people, who contracted poliomyelitis (polio) during the 20^th century polio epidemics and are now experiencing what is known as the “late effects of polio” (LEoP) and its subset, the post-polio syndrome (PPS).

“Late effects of polio” is an umbrella term which includes the onset or worsening of residual muscle weakness, joint and muscle pain, severe fatigue, intolerance to cold temperatures and a range of biomechanical symptoms, such as osteoporosis and scoliosis, that occur usually 15 to 40 years after a person contracted the disease. Its subset, the post-polio syndrome, is a diagnosable neurological condition. Its symptoms cross over with late effects of polio and may also include loss of function and difficulties with sleeping, breathing and swallowing.

Most survivors of paralytic polio, and many of those who had non-paralytic polio and people who were never diagnosed with polio, are at risk of experiencing the late effects of polio or post-polio syndrome. Continue reading →