The Purpose and Audience of the Fact Sheet
This fact sheet is aimed at parents with young children who doubt whether or not to vaccinate their children against certain infectious diseases. It provides information about poliomyelitis and the possible implications of vaccinating or not vaccinating children against it, as lately, a tendency has appeared not to vaccinate children against poliomyelitis. This tendency can lead to the danger of poliomyelitis re-emergence in the US (Russo, Goyal, Tyler, et al., 2022). It would be beneficial to spread this fact sheet in children’s hospitals, kindergartens, and other places that are popular among parents.
History of the Disease
Poliomyelitis is a disease that has thousands of years of history. There is evidence that polio existed in Ancient Egypt, in particular, images of children who seemed to have signs of having survived polio (“History of polio vaccination”). Thus, poliovirus has been known to be attacking young children’s nervous systems since prehistoric times, leading to such severe consequences as paralysis and death (Modlin, Bandyopadhyay & Sutter, 2021). Humanity had a breakthrough in the 20th century when the vaccine was invented, and it proved to be so effective that by the beginning of the 21st century, the disease was almost eradicated in most countries.
Implications of the Spread of Poliovirus
In recent years, there has been a rise in the anti-vaccination movement, and many parents, particularly in the US, choose not to vaccinate their children, including the polio vaccine. Poliovirus is highly contagious and transmitted through person-to-person contact; thus, it is difficult to control without a vaccine. If this trend continues, more and more children will keep getting infected with poliovirus every year, which means a higher mortality rate among children and more children having to suffer from disabilities as a result.
Treatment of Poliomyelitis
The importance of the vaccine also needs to be highlighted because there is no known cure for polio. Once a child has contracted the disease, there is no specific way to stop the disease development and predict how it will affect one’s health. The only thing that can be done is physiotherapy for the consequences of poliomyelitis in case the person has survived.
References
History of polio vaccination. (n.d.) World Health Organization. Web.
Modlin, J. F., Bandyopadhyay, A.S. & Sutter, R. (2021). Immunization against poliomyelitis and the challenges to worldwide poliomyelitis eradication. The Journal of Infectious Diseases, 224(4), 398-404. Web.
Russo, G. B., Goyal, T., Tyler, K. & Thakur, K. T. (2022). Re-emergence of poliovirus in the United States: Considerations and implications. Annals of Neurology, 92(5), 725-728. Web.