World Polio Day highlights the global efforts to end poliomyelitis (polio) worldwide. Polio is a life-threatening disease caused by the poliovirus, which the World Health Assembly committed to eradicate in 1988. The WHO European Region was declared polio-free in 2002 and has sustained this status every year since then.
Every year on 24 October, we observe World Polio Day to raise awareness of the importance of polio vaccination to protect every child from this devastating disease, and to celebrate the many parents, professionals and volunteers whose contributions make polio eradication achievable.
To ensure a polio-free future for everyone, efforts must continue to maintain high immunization coverage, implement high-quality surveillance to detect any presence of the virus, and prepare to respond in the event of an outbreak.
What is Polio:
• Polio, or poliomyelitis, is a disabling and life-threatening disease caused by the poliovirus.
• The virus spreads from person to person and can infect a person’s spinal cord, causing paralysis (can’t move parts of the body).
Polio Symptoms:
Most people who get infected with poliovirus will not have any visible symptoms.
About 1 out of 4 people (or 25 out of 100) with poliovirus infection will have flu-like symptoms that can include:
Sore throat
Fever
Tiredness
Nausea
Headache
Stomach pain
These symptoms usually last 2 to 5 days, then go away on their own.
A smaller proportion of people with poliovirus infection will develop other, more serious symptoms that affect the brain and spinal cord.
Meningitis (infection of the covering of the spinal cord and/or brain)occurs in about 1–5 out of 100 people with poliovirus infection, depending on virus type
Paralysis (can’t move parts of the body) or weakness in the arms, legs, or both occurs in about 1 out of 200 people to 1 in 2000 people, depending on virus type
Paralysis is the most severe symptom associated with poliovirus because it can lead to permanent disability and death. Between 2 and 10 out of 100 people who have paralysis from poliovirus infection die, because the virus affects the muscles that help them breathe.
Polio Vaccine:
There are two types of vaccine that can prevent polio:
• Inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV) given as an injection in the leg or arm, depending on the patient’s age. Only IPV has been used in the United States since 2000.
• Oral poliovirus vaccine (OPV) is still used throughout much of the world.
• Polio vaccine protects children by preparing their bodies to fight the poliovirus. Almost all children (more than 99 percent) who get all the recommended doses of the inactivated polio vaccine will be protected from polio.
• It is also very important to practice good hand hygiene and wash hands often with soap and water. Note that alcohol-based hand sanitizers do not kill poliovirus.
Polio Treatment:
There is no cure for paralytic polio and no specific treatment.
Physical or occupational therapy can help with arm or leg weakness caused by polio and might improve long-term outcomes, especially if implemented early in the course of illness. Healthcare providers should consider consulting neurology and infectious disease experts to discuss possible treatments and recommend certain interventions on a case-by-case basis.
If you think you or someone in your family has symptoms of polio, please call your healthcare provider right away or go to an emergency room.
World Polio Day 2023 Theme
Year by year, the themes for World Polio Day are:
• World Polio Day 2022 Theme: A healthier future for mothers and children
• World Polio Day 2021 Theme: Delivering on a Promise
• World Polio Day 2020 Theme: Stories of Progress: Past and Present
• World Polio Day 2019 Theme: Stories of Progress: Past and Present
• World Polio Day 2018 Theme: End Polio Now
History of World Polio Day:
World Polio Day was created and celebrated by Rotary International to commemorate the birthday of Jonas Salk, the medical researcher who led the first team to develop a polio vaccine. In 1955, he created the Inactivated Poliovirus Vaccine. In 1962, Albert Sabin created the Oral Polio Vaccine. In 1988, World Health Assembly committed to eradicate the poliovirus, at the time, there were around 3,50,000 cases worldwide. In 2002, WHO European Region was declared polio-free since then on October 24, the World Polio Day is celebrated worldwide.
It’s Time to Make Polio History:
In 1988, poliovirus was present in 125 countries, paralyzing an estimated 1,000 children per day. That year, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) launched, with a goal of eradicating polio worldwide.
Over the past 35 years, GPEI has made remarkable progress towards this goal. Cases of wild poliovirus have decreased by more than 99% – from 350,000 cases per year to fewer than 10 annual cases of wild polio. The disease remains consistently present in just two countries – Afghanistan and Pakistan.
But challenges remain. As long as wild poliovirus continues to circulate in Afghanistan and Pakistan, all countries are at risk of wild poliovirus being imported. Outbreaks of poliovirus variants – which emerge when not enough children are vaccinated against polio – present an additional and pressing challenge in multiple countries.
On World Polio Day, CDC commemorates this progress and joins its GPEI partners in the cal
l to overcome the barriers to Make Polio History once and for all.
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