Polio is a deadly disease that used to paralyze thousands of children every year. The disease is now spreading through London, New York and Jerusalem for the first time in decades.
In the first half of the 20th century, children under five years old were most at risk. At that time, polio caused fever and vomiting. Around 1 in 200 kids with polio got paralysis and some died.
There is still no cure for polio. However, the disease is preventable with a vaccine that was first introduced in the 1950s. After that, the disease almost disappeared.
The polio virus has two main forms. There is a “wild-type” and a “vaccine-derived” type.
Recently, the vaccine-derived virus was found in London and New York. A very similar virus was found in Jerusalem, Israel.
The vaccine-derived virus comes from using a polio vaccine that contains the real, but weakened virus. After kids take the vaccine, the virus leaves the body in their feces. In some communities, where many people didn’t take a polio vaccine, that is dangerous.
Some countries do not use the vaccine with the weakened virus anymore. But, people from countries that do use that vaccine can spread the virus when they travel.
Experts say that less people took the polio vaccine in the last couple of years because of the COVID-19 situation. For that reason, there are new efforts to promote the polio vaccine.
VOCABULARY
- Polio – a deadly disease. Please see Wikipedia link
- Disease – illness; sickness; disorder; something that attacks the body
- Paralyze – to make someone not able to move their body or parts of their body
- Spread – to open out; to extend over an area; to move apart to cover a bigger area
- Decade – 10 years; a 10 year period
- 20th century – the years 1900 to 1999
- At risk – exposed to danger; a chance of danger; the possibility of danger
- Vomiting – when stuff from your stomach comes out of your mouth
- Paralysis – the loss of ability to move parts of your body; when you can’t move a body part
- Cure – to heal; to make better; to get rid of a disease in a person
- Preventable – can be avoided; doesn’t have to happen
- Disappear – can’t be found; vanish; not able to be seen
- Form – type; kind; variety; sort
- Derived – come from; arise from; originate
- Contain – to have within; to hold inside; to be part of
- Feces – waste that comes out of our bodies after eating
- Effort – attempt; hard work; trying to do something;
- Promote – to advertise; to market; to push; to make people aware; to make popular
Original story from Reuters below:
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