Sources Dictionary
Polio
Treatment for Polio consists of skilled nursing and physical therapy. Early symptoms for getting the disease are muscle pains and aches. Polio may attack the nerve cells of the brain or the spinal cord. Some patients show only mild symptoms such as fever, sore throat, headache, and vomiting. Some people develop neck stiffness and a dislike to light. Fatigue may make disease more severe. Undamaged nerve cells may be able to take over some of the work of those that have been destroyed, but once muscle fibers have been wasted away, they cannot be brought back. Most Polio victims make a good recovery. Even those whose breathing was paralyzed were usually able to breathe unaided eventually.
In the 1950’s a vaccine was introduced. Jonas Salk developed this vaccine. It was declared safe in 1955. There were problems with the Salk vaccine though. It was slow developing and you had to take 4 shots for the peak of immunity. Then booster shots were required later as the immunity level began to sag. Next they decided that they would not try to kill the Polio cells but severely weaken them. So, the second vaccine was developed by Albert Sabin, and was approved safe in 1961. Even though there are already two vaccines no drug has been developed yet. One treatment is called the Kenny treatment, and is named after a Catholic Nun named Sister Kenny. It involves hot packs or hot baths along with a lot of physical therapy.