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Causes

By Mayo Clinic staff

The poliovirus resides only in humans and enters the environment in the feces of someone who's infected. Poliovirus spreads primarily through the fecal-oral route, especially in areas where sanitation is inadequate.

Poliovirus can be transmitted through contaminated water and food or through direct contact with someone infected with the virus. Polio is so contagious that anyone living with a recently infected person is likely to become infected, too. People carrying the poliovirus can spread the virus for weeks in their feces.

Risk factors Symptoms
References
  1. Polio disease - Questions and answers. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/print.do?url=http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd-vac/polio/dis-faqs.htm. Accessed Jan. 16, 2009.
  2. Poliomyelitis. World Health Organization. http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs114/en/index.html. Accessed Jan. 16, 2009.
  3. Simmons Z. Polio and infectious diseases of the anterior horn. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Jan. 9, 2009.
  4. Howard RS. Poliomyelitis and the postpolio syndrome. British Medical Journal. 2005;330:1314.
  5. Atkinson W, et al. Poliomyelitis. In: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Epidemiology and Prevention of Vaccine-Preventable Diseases. 10th ed. Washington D.C.: Public Health Foundation; 2008:101.
  6. Shefner JM, et al. Post-polio syndrome. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Jan. 9, 2009.
  7. Risk factors. Global Polio Eradication Initiative. http://www.polioeradication.org/risk.asp. Accessed Jan. 19, 2009.
  8. Sorenson EJ, et al. Electrophysiological findings in a cohort of old polio survivors. Journal of the Peripheral Nervous System. 2006;11:241.
  9. Modlin JF. Poliovirus vaccination. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Jan. 9, 2009.
  10. Polio vaccine: What you need to know. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/vis/downloads/vis-IPV.pdf. Accessed Jan. 16, 2009.
  11. Pediarix (prescribing information). Research Triangle Park, N.C.: GlaxoSmithKline; 2008.
DS00572 March 5, 2011

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