Polio? What's that?

[Darat]

...snip...
Hopefully that would make the anitvaxxers happy. Wonder if they will still say it was "just better sanitary conditions" that irradicated it, even though it will be the use of vaccination in those countries that will.

...snip...

Isn't polio one of those diseases that was "helped" to a degree by improved sanitation? When sanitation was very bad babies would be exposed to it whilst still breast feeding so would be protected by the mother's antibodies but still form their own antibodies?

 

[Mojo]

Isn't polio one of those diseases that was "helped" to a degree by improved sanitation? When sanitation was very bad babies would be exposed to it whilst still breast feeding so would be protected by the mother's antibodies but still form their own antibodies?

Since polio is transmitted via faecally contaminated water, I would have thought that improved sanitation would tend to prevent its spread.

 

[steenkh]

Isn't polio one of those diseases that was "helped" to a degree by improved sanitation?

Polio is spread through feces. Improved sanitation clearly helps, and yet, in a thoroughly sanitated country like the Netherlands, there was an outbreak in 1992 among a religious community that refused vaccination.

When sanitation was very bad babies would be exposed to it whilst still breast feeding so would be protected by the mother's antibodies but still form their own antibodies?

Dunno about that!

 

[Darat]

Since polio is transmitted via faecally contaminated water, I would have thought that improved sanitation would tend to prevent its spread.

Just been looking it up after I made that post - this site seems to confirm my memory (it might have been where I read it in the first place):

...snip...

Ironically, before the 1900's, immunity was acquired primarily during infancy because sanitation conditions were poor and efforts at sewage and water treatment were primitive. Babies were frequently exposed to polioviruses. These infants did not contract the disease because their mothers¹ antibodies were passed on to them through breast feeding. The babies then developed their own antibodies to the virus.

Paradoxically, when sanitation improved, infants were no longer exposed at an age when they were protected, so they did not develop antibodies to the viruses. Consequently, when they were exposed to the virus in later childhood and adulthood, they were at risk to contract polio.

...snip...

 

[steenkh]

Ironically, before the 1900's, immunity was acquired primarily during infancy because sanitation conditions were poor and efforts at sewage and water treatment were primitive. Babies were frequently exposed to polioviruses. These infants did not contract the disease because their mothers¹ antibodies were passed on to them through breast feeding. The babies then developed their own antibodies to the virus.

This has little to do with the effects of sanitation. When polio myelitis is close to being eradicated, the children will not get exposed to the virus, sanitation or no sanitation, and will be more susceptible if the virus is encountered later.

The population of most of the world where polio is already eradicated is in a very real danger of being overwhelmed if wild polio virus attacks: Even the adult population is endangered, including those who were exposed to the virus when young, because the immunity wears off.

 

[Vorticity]

Not if the anti-vaxxers get their way, we're not.

But they wont. Will they?

Oh, I assume they probably will get their way. I mean, when has humanity opted not to do something stupid when they could just as easily have done it?

 

[CFLarsen]

Oh, I assume they probably will get their way. I mean, when has humanity opted not to do something stupid when they could just as easily have done it?

That's where skeptics step in.

We have to.

 

[Kaarjuus]

Do some minimal work; spend 5 seconds doing a Google.

How rude.

Not really. He's totally right. It took me less than 5 seconds to find that page. It probably took Rob more than that to make that post.

None of the other posters who mentioned the Gates Foundation, or Ted Turner, were harassed this way.

 

[Eos of the Eons]

Just been looking it up after I made that post - this site seems to confirm my memory (it might have been where I read it in the first place):

Interesting article. I'll quote it again for fun

Paradoxically, when sanitation improved, infants were no longer exposed at an age when they were protected, so they did not develop antibodies to the viruses. Consequently, when they were exposed to the virus in later childhood and adulthood, they were at risk to contract polio.

So, to get immune without vaccination all babies would need exposure to the virus via unsanitary conditions WHILE getting breast fed by a mom that already had immunity by ingesting some polio containing poo infested something or other when she was breast fed as a baby too. We'd all have to hope this happens to every child in order to eradicate it. Afterall, that's why polio was eradicated back then, and why we don't have it around now

I'd rather get my kid the vaccine, rather than try to breastfeed until the kid ingested poo contaminated water or something that was somehow guaranteed to have polio virus in it, thanks.

This must be where the antivaxxers some how got the idea the polio viruses were "natural to gut flora". #($&#$... It's more like kids had to rely on their mother's own immunity as babies when their guts came into contact with the polio virus.

Yes, lets all go back to the good old days of living around and eating poo and then hoping that when we do come across something infested with polio virus that mommy has some immunity for us and still has us attached to her chest.

Then we can try on whooping cough too, and measles, just for fun! Let's see how many kids come out of that unscathed! Luckiest kid to not get the most deadly form lives/wins! Cuz you know, all kids lived until they were a hundred back then, and never saw cancer either! All these diseases kept people spry and healthy!

Hyuk!!!

Sorry Darat, I'm not picking on you, I just couldn't resist putting on that antivax hat for a moment and trying to reason out why vaccines are such a waste of time in their world.

If you want to read more of the same "reasoning", then be my guest:

Before we had the polio vaccine we saw very little viral polio. There was paralysis, but it's cause was not a polio virus but rather DDT pesticide, the chemical that in all likelihood also poisoned FDR while swimming in a lake in upstate NY. When you see where DDT was produced you will also see that it was exactly the region where the "epidemic" was.

Polio was already declining in the U.S. and Europe during the 40's and 50's, as well as in England, where polio mortalities was at its height in 1950, but had declined 82 percent by 1956, before the Salk vaccinations began there.

Lies, damned lies by sources known to lie.
http://www.mothering.com/discussions//showthread.php?t=236531

The recommendation is sanitary conditions to get rid of exposure to polio, and to not use the vaccine cuz the vaccine causes the paralytic form of polio. The myth is that the vaccine caused the rise of polio in the Americas since polio was being eradicated by sanitary conditions. The other myth is polio is a safe virus to mess with. Then why is the following true:

10 to 20 million people worldwide live with lasting damage caused by polio.

http://www.polio.info/polio-eradication/front/templates/index.jsp?&lang=EN&codeRubrique=12

Other more reliable sources show the opposite is true. Sanitation was not reducing polio cases, but the vaccine did. You can spread the virus via saliva, and we know kids sneeze all the time, or slime all their toys, and stuff everything else in their mouths. Increased sanitation or not, you can't get away from kid slime. So, use the vaccine, or live in unsanitary conditions as a baby who is getting breastfed for sure. The vaccine is safer now than it ever was, and we know increased sanitation alone only increased deaths and paralysis due to polio exposure.

About 20%-80% of people who had polio will develop post-polio syndrome (a deterioration of the originally affected muscles).
1-4% of people with polio will die.

Not many folks get paralysis or die, most deal with post-polio syndrome instead.

Why is the statistic so willy nilly? 20-80? http://www.saskatoonhealthregion.ca/your_health/ps_itc_vaccine_dt.htm

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

To reiterate a few of the points Eos has already posted, just because a virus is spread by the fecal oral route does not mean all we need is good sanitation to prevent its spread. Look around. The three most common means of disease spread despite American sanitation is respiratory droplets, sex and the fecal oral route.

Sanitation cleaned up the water supply but we share a lot of saliva and hands spread the fecal part of that equation.

More polio facts.

Pathogenesis
The virus enters through the mouth, and primary multiplication of the virus occurs at the site of implantation in the pharynx and gastrointestinal tract. The virus is usually present in the throat and in the stool before the onset of illness.

One week after onset there is less virus in the throat, but virus continues to be excreted in the stool for several weeks.

Up to 95% of all polio infections are inapparent or asymptomatic. Estimates of the ratio of inapparent to paralytic illness vary from 50:1 to 1,000:1 (usually 200:1). Infected persons without symptoms shed virus in the stool and are able to transmit the virus to others.

So what you have are a lot of silent spreaders who excrete virus for long periods of time.

And it isn't maternal antibody protecting people, it's the luck of the draw. The odds of not being one of those unlucky few are a million to one better with the vaccine than without it.

There are two figures in the calculation of how many people will suffer the serious consequences of a disease. One is how many people with it get the bad outcome and the other is how many people get the infection. Rabies is nearly 100% fatal but by vaccinating cats and dogs not very many humans get it. Polio is harmless to 95% of the population but without the vaccine it infected the majority of the population. Even with modern sanitation, we share a lot of spit and ◊◊◊◊.