Definition
Poliomyelitis, also known as poliomyelitis or simply polio, is an infectious disease that can lead to the central nervous system (CNS) being affected. In most cases, an infection remains symptomless, but some sufferers may experience permanent paralysis. Usually the extremities are affected by these paralyses.
If the respiratory muscles are also affected, mechanical ventilation must be used and the patient may die. Polio is considered to be eradicated in Germany. The last recorded case occurred in Germany in 1990.
Nevertheless, the Standing Vaccination Commission (STIKO) recommends that children be vaccinated against polio. In other countries, especially in Nigeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan, the disease has not yet been eradicated, so that travelers can carry the pathogens back to Germany. In order to eradicate the disease worldwide, it is necessary that children and adults in Germany continue to be vaccinated, so that Germans are no longer potential carriers of the disease. It can be assumed that the poliovirus will be the next eradicated virus due to a worldwide vaccination.
Synonyms
Poliomyelitis, Polio
For the prevention of polio there is a dead vaccine which is administered parenterally. The previously administered oral vaccination is no longer used because of the danger of vaccine-associated paralytic poliomyelitis. There are no contraindications against the parenteral vaccine.
The first polio vaccination can be administered from the age of two months. Usually this vaccination is administered as a six-fold vaccination as a so-called combination vaccine. The vaccination is then given together with a vaccination against diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, Haemophilus influenzae and hepatitis B, so that children only need to be vaccinated once instead of six times.
To achieve a so-called basic immunization, the vaccine must be injected a total of four times. If the vaccination calendar of the Standing Commission on Vaccination is followed, vaccinations are given at the age of two months, three months, four months and the last vaccination between the eleventh and fourteenth month. There should be at least four to six weeks between each vaccination.
The entire basic immunization of polio takes place together with five other vaccines as a six-times vaccination. Although the vaccination as a combination vaccine makes sense, the polio vaccination can also be administered as a monovalent vaccine, i.e. as a single vaccination. In this case, only two to three vaccinations are required for basic immunization, which are administered between the first and second year of life.
The vaccination against polio is one of the vaccinations that has to be refreshed after a certain period of time after the basic immunization in order to guarantee a permanent protection. The booster vaccination is usually given together in a combination vaccine with the booster for tetanus, whooping cough and diphtheria. It should be administered between the ages of nine and seventeen.
After that, no further booster vaccination is usually necessary. Only in individual cases is a further booster vaccination recommended for safety reasons. This applies to travelers to countries at risk of polio infection whose last vaccination against polio was more than 10 years ago, as well as to people who work in the laboratory and are at increased risk of exposure to poliovirus or have contact with polio patients.
All articles in this series:
