Polio In Africa

Polio is a contagious viral disease which crippled tens of thousands in the 1950s, and killed more than a thousand a year. Because it is a mild gastrointestinal illness in young children and a serious paralytic illness in older people, it had an unusual epidemiology, with more cases of paralytic polio turning up in wealthy areas and as sanitation improved. 80-90% of cases of polio are the minor illness; the rest are paralytic poliomyelitis. In paralytic poliomyelitis, 25% suffer permanent severe disability, about 25% have mild disabilities, and 50% recover with no residual paralysis. Mortality is 1 to 4%. "Recently, a post poliomyelitis syndrome has been described, characterized by muscle fatigue and decreased endurance... The syndrome occurs many years after an attack of paralytic poliomyelitis...".