World Polio Day 2023: Date, history, significance; polio symptoms, types of polio vaccines

World Polio Day is celebrated every year on October 24 to create awareness around the importance of polio vaccination to protect children.

World Polio Day 2023: Polio, the debilitating and very infectious illness that has been around since ancient times, is a life threatening and disabling disease that can spread from person to person and can cause paralysis or may cause weakness in arms or legs.

Polio virus can life in an infected person’s throat and intestines and can be contracted by food and water in unhygienic conditions. It can spread through a snooze or faeces of an infected person. Even people who do not have symptoms can pass it on to others. On January 13, this year, India completes 12 polio-free years which is considered as a remarkable achievement; the last polio case in India was detected in 2011.

World Polio Day is celebrated every year on October 24 to create awareness around the importance of polio vaccination to protect children. Oral polio vaccine is highly effective in protection from polio.

Polio vaccines
Oral polio vaccine (OPV)
OPV produces antibodies in the blood and provides shield against all three types of poliovirus. In the event of infection, it protects the individual against polio paralysis by preventing the spread of poliovirus to the nervous system.

Inactivated polio vaccine (IPV)
It is an injectable vaccine and can be either administered alone or along with other vaccines (e.g., diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, hepatitis B, and haemophilus influenza). Generally, three spaced doses are given to generate adequate levels of seroconversion. A booster dose is added during late childhood for polio prevention.

Polio symptoms
Most people affected by polio virus are asymptomatic and do not show any symptoms. While 1 out of 4 people suffering from polio develop mild symptoms like sore throat, fever, tiredness, nausea, headache, and stomach pain. A few people with this virus can develop serious complications of brain and spinal cords like meningitis, paralysis or weakness in arms or legs.

History of World Polio Day
In the year 1988, there were around 3.5 lakh polio cases worldwide and the World Health Assembly resolved to eradicate the poliovirus. In 2002, WHO European Region was declared polio-free and from that time on October 24 every year, the World Polio Day is celebrated annually.