Sean Zachary Jatayna

III-BSP
Journal Critiquing:
Polio Virus
The "Poliovirus" (polimyelitis) has caused millions of people temporary and permanent
paralysis, and death since its discovery in the 19th century. Although as of now, we know that the polio
virus is not that widespread as it once was, it is still a very contagious disease that can causes
epidemics.
The transmission of the virus is commonly through the oral and fecal route, in people with poor
hygiene habits and developing countries sewage systems. The poliovirus binds to CD155 or the Polio
Virus Receptor (PVR) where the entry of the ssRNA (+) of the virus given entry into the cell, most
commony in the neck and intestines. The poliovirus (picornoviridae) has been known to target and
destroy motor neurons and bring about paralyzation.
The polio virus releases ssRNA (+) producing ssRNA (-) which is used to produced
approximately 50 more ssRNA (+). The viral strand uses Internal Ribosomal Entry Sites which are
used to bind proteins, transalation factors, and 40s proteins in producing viral polyproteins, breaking
up later to produce viral polymerases and proteinases. The cell will soon lyse and the outbreak
throughout the body occurs.
Since the understanding of its contagious nature in the early 20th century, the action undertaken
by the medical field was to be admired. It was known before as the infantile paralysis disease and
specialized hospitals were built for the isolation and treatment of this disease. The Iron Lung was
created back then for the treatment of lung paralysis, the approximate-equivalent of a ventilator where
the goal is to increase and decrease air pressure in the lungs to attain respiration.
The fight against this virus is slowly coming to a end. It is a victory of man against death and
disease somewhat. In developed countries such as the USA, occurrences of this virus is close to none
as there has not been a case for nearly two decades. Although outbreaks of this disease has been
reported in Africa and some parts of Asia, the response of organizations dedicated to fighting this
disease is something to marvel about. The world has also been taking precautions to eradicate its
existance from the world. Nearly 90% decrease globally of this disease has already happened. Only a
few countries have endemics of the virus.
The world will require twice as much polio vaccine in an approximate proportion to the people
on the planet, making this mission quite a feat to accomplish. Plus not all people are able to have
clean hygiene, sanitation and prevention. The possibility of infection due to the vaccine itself is also a
problem, they might believe they are actually protected but are actually just asymptomatic and cause
epidemics themselves. Epidemics are dangerous since there is no drug for the polio virus.
On the other hand, the picornoviridae or poliovirus can be synthesized and reproduced in the
laboratory and the danger that it can be used as a biological weapon is a problem. As long as countries
keep safety measures, I believe that the campaigns against this disease is plausible. The key to
stopping the disease is by striking where the disease grow, roost and cultivate in the 3rd world countries.
I applaud the efforts of the people trying to make this movement effective and hope to see their
works bear fruit.
http://www.historyofvaccines.org/content/timelines/polio
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC112167/
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1104329
http://amhistory.si.edu/polio/virusvaccine/how.htm