-Thanks!
Vincent
Polio is an infection of the spinal fluid and the brain. If I remember correctly from my reading over the years, there are two kinds of viral polio, and one kind of bacterial polio. Like any other infection, the microbes attack the living tissue and cause it to malfunction. When polio germs attack the spinal cord, they cause the signals in the spinal nerves to transmit improperly or not all. This causes muscle weakness, because the brain can't tell the muscle to move. Eventually a muscle will atrophy, grow smaller, and waste away from lack of use.
I had polio when I was three years old. I was hospitalized for eleven days, then they sent me home with the expectation that I would wear a metal brace on my left arm for the rest of my life. As it turns out, I regained most of my ability to move, but I still have after effects. My spine is curved. (That's called scoliosis.) My left leg is shorter than my right leg by about one half inch. Apparently, the infection somehow made my left leg grow a little slower than my right leg. My left shoulder muscles never fully developed. I could function, but not as well as somebody whose muscles were normal.
Orignal From: What happens inside the body during Polio?
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