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Treatments and drugs

By Mayo Clinic staff

Because no cure for polio exists, the focus is on increasing comfort, speeding recovery and preventing complications. Supportive treatments include:

  • Bed rest
  • Antibiotics for secondary infections (none for poliovirus)
  • Analgesics for pain
  • Portable ventilators to assist breathing
  • Moderate exercise (physical therapy) to prevent deformity and loss of muscle function
  • A nutritious diet
Prevention Tests and diagnosis
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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