What is the size and structure of a poliovirus particle?
A single poliovirus particle measures thirty nanometers across. It carries a simple RNA genome wrapped in a protein shell called a capsid.
Questions about Polio
Short answers, pulled from the story.
How does polio transmission occur and when does it peak in different climates?
Transmission occurs primarily through the fecal-oral route via contaminated food or water with occasional oral-oral transmission. In temperate climates peak transmission occurs during summer and autumn months while tropical areas show far less seasonal variation.
What percentage of polio cases result in paralysis and what are the mortality rates for adults versus children?
One to five out of every thousand cases progress to paralytic disease where muscles become weak and floppy. Adults face higher risks than children with paralysis occurring in one out of seventy-five adult cases versus one out of a thousand children.
When was the Global Polio Eradication Initiative launched and how many wild virus cases remained by 2022?
The World Health Organization launched the Global Polio Eradication Initiative in nineteen-eighty-eight. Cases dropped from an estimated three hundred fifty thousand that year to just thirty confirmed wild virus cases by two thousand twenty-two.
Who developed the first polio vaccine and when did Jonas Salk announce his success?
Jonas Salk developed the inactivated polio vaccine at the University of Pittsburgh in nineteen-fifty-two. He announced his success to the world on April twelfth nineteen-fifty-five using monkey kidney tissue cultures.