Some viruses -as old as our existence- have been present since the discovery of new continents until the rise and fall of great empires. One of those is named poliovirus. The oldest records of its existence date back to the 2nd century BC. In the 20th century occurred the most massive polio epidemic in history, during which the virus killed about half a million people a year, before the discovery of the vaccine in 1955. Although it mainly attacks children, new outbreaks have recently emerged in some parts of the world that also affect older people. Given its lethality, we’ll show you the symptoms of polio in adults.
About 95% of cases do not produce any symptoms. It is known as asymptomatic polio, in which the person is a carrier of the virus, being capable of infecting others. On the other hand, between 4 and 8 percent of the cases present symptoms, called symptomatic polio, within which we can make a distinction between two types: paralytic and nonparalytic polio (NPP).
Nonparalytic poliomyelitis
It is also known as abortive polio. Usually, people suffering from this disease variant don’t even suspect they have polio because it generates symptoms similar to the common flu. They typically last between 8 to 12 days. These are:
1-Fever
It is a temporary increase in body temperature in response to any disease or illness. Fever is a mechanism of self-defense of the human body against the infections given that the majority of bacteria and viruses thrive more easily to 98.6 ° F, the average body temperature. Thus, fever slows down the spread of the virus throughout the body. Nonparalytic polio produces mild but constant high temperature, between 100.4 – 102.2 ° F. Besides, fever is accompanied by sudden sweats and continuous chills.