A smaller and much rarer proportion of people with poliovirus infection might develop other, more serious symptoms that affect the brain and spinal cord.
Initial signs and symptoms of paralytic polio tend to mimic those of nonparalytic polio, such as a fever and a headache.
Within a week, however, other signs and symptoms appear, including:
- Loss of reflexes
- Severe muscle aches or weakness
- Loose and floppy limbs (flaccid paralysis)
After experiencing paralytic polio, movement tends to slowly return within a few weeks or months but many people are left with persistent problems.
How do you catch polio?
Poliovirus is very contagious and spreads through person-to-person contact, living in the infected person’s throat and intestines.
It enters the body via the mouth through contact with infected stool or less commonly, droplets from a sneeze or cough.
This is usually picked up from not washing your hands properly.
