Polio (also called poliomyelitis) is a health condition that still affects a small handful of people over the world every year, and even though there are many countries who have already completely eradicated the disease, you could still be placed at risk if you have never been fully vaccinated against the poliovirus, if you have a compromised immune system that puts you at increased risk or if you come into direct contact with the poliovirus.
If you suspect that you might have contracted polio, you should make an appointment with your doctor even if you aren’t showing any symptoms at all, or if you are showing only some of the symptoms on this list. Yes, polio can be considered infectious, and if you don’t get tested for it then you could be placing people around you at further risk, too.
Here are 8 typical symptoms of polio that you should know about.
1. Nerve Damage
Polio once used to be considered one of the most serious and potentially fatal health conditions, and nerve damage remains one of the most serious potential symptoms of the condition. The nerve damage might start to show in the early phases of the disease, and it can progress throughout the rest of the body in a matter of days, where it can cause partial to complete paralysis of the body – and this is where a lot of the danger lies when it comes to a polio infection.
In surviving cases of polio, the sustained nerve damage because of the initial infection often sticks around as a lifelong symptom, but it can also often be treated with the use of medication prescribed to treat nerve damage.
Symptoms of nerve damage in the beginning stages can include “ghost” sensations, burning or tingling, and might also include episodes of surface numbness that come and go at first.