HEALTH REPORT - Post-Polio Condition

HEALTH REPORT –August 28, 2002: Post-Polio Condition

By Jill Moss¹
(Photo -WHO)
This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

In nineteen-eighty-eight, a major campaign to end the disease polio was launched. A virus causes polio. It can
infect people at any age, but it especially affects children under age three. The virus enters through the mouth and
then grows inside the throat and intestines².

Once the poliovirus becomes established in the intestines, it can spread to the blood and nervous system. As a
result, victims of polio often lose the ability to move. This paralysis³ is almost always permanent. In very serious
cases, the paralysis can lead to death because victims are not able to breathe.

There is no cure for polio, so the best treatment is prevention. A few drops of a
powerful vaccine⁴ medicine will protect a child for life. The vaccine must be given over
several years to be fully⁵ effective.

Health experts want the world to know that many years later, polio victims may suffer
from a condition called post-polio sequelae, or P-P-S. This condition affects polio
survivors⁷ about thirty-five years after their first polio attack.

There are about two-million polio survivors in North America and twenty-million
around the world. About seventy-five percent of paralyzed⁸ polio survivors and forty
percent of non-paralyzed survivors suffer from P -P-S. Signs of the condition include
muscle weakness, pain in the head, neck and back, tiredness, and trouble sleeping, breathing and swallowing.

Richard Bruno is an expert on Post-Polio Sequelae. He says the condition is caused when nerves damaged earlier
by the poliovirus become tired and overworked. There is no cure. However, rest and less physical activity can
help treat the condition. He says polio survivors must stop over-using their bodies. They should walk less and use
devices to help them walk. They also should have rest periods throughout the day. And they should eat small
meals throughout the day that are high in protein and low in fat.

Doctor Bruno heads the Post Polio Institute in the United States. This organization has started a letter campaign
to educate every doctor and polio survivor⁶ in the world about Post-Polio Sequelae. More information about this
health condition can be found on the Internet computer system. The address is www-dot-postpolioinfo-dot-com.

This VOA Special English Health Report was written by Jill Moss.

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1 moss   

n.苔，藓，地衣

参考例句：

• Moss grows on a rock.苔藓生在石头上。
• He was found asleep on a pillow of leaves and moss.有人看见他枕着树叶和苔藓睡着了。

2 intestines   

n.肠( intestine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Perhaps the most serious problems occur in the stomach and intestines. 最严重的问题或许出现在胃和肠里。 来自辞典例句
• The traps of carnivorous plants function a little like the stomachs and small intestines of animals. 食肉植物的捕蝇器起着动物的胃和小肠的作用。 来自辞典例句

3 paralysis   

n.麻痹(症)；瘫痪(症)

参考例句：

• The paralysis affects his right leg and he can only walk with difficulty.他右腿瘫痪步履维艰。
• The paralysis affects his right leg and he can only walk with difficulty.他右腿瘫痪步履维艰。

4 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
• She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。

5 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

6 survivor   

n.生存者，残存者，幸存者

参考例句：

• The sole survivor of the crash was an infant.这次撞车的惟一幸存者是一个婴儿。
• There was only one survivor of the plane crash.这次飞机失事中只有一名幸存者。

7 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

8 paralyzed   

adj.瘫痪的

参考例句：

• He is paralyzed as the result of a would-be assassin's bullet years ago. 几年前有人对他行刺未遂，但子弹使他瘫痪了。
• But the very imminence of the emergency paralyzed his invention. Good! 常言说得好，急中生智，可汤姆这回却束手无策，对，就这么办。