The Poliovirus
The three virus' responsible for polio (poliomyelitis) are species of Enterovirus (a virus that lives in the gastrointestinal tract). The transmission of these virus' are usually by the faecal-oral route, pharyngeal secretions, or mechanical vector (flies).It is a member of the biological family Picornaviridae. It is made of Ribonucleic acid (RNA) and protein caspid and roughly 7500 nucleotides long which to virus standards are relatively short. Poliovirus was first isolated in 1909 by Karl Landsteiner and Erwin Popper. All of the poliovirus pathogens aspire or try to live inside a human host cell, the preferred host cells include the gastrointestinal tract, and all types of neurons, inside the blood stream and inside the faeces of the infected as the cell can live inside the faecal matter for many months at a time. The three poliomyelitis pathogens are:
Type 1, Brunhilde or Mahoney
Brunhilde or Mahoney is considered the most virulent and common sterotype, named after a female chimpanzee from which it was first isolated. Type 1 poliovirus is commonly associated with paralytic cases. It is also the perpetrator of the majority of epidemics.
Type 2 or Lansing
Lansing is named after the city in Michigan where the first patient lived who was found to have this virus. It is the least common stereotype of poliomyelitis, in most cases this stereotype is associated abortive and non-paralytic polio
Type 3, Sabin or Leon
Sabin or Leon is named after the patient in California from whom this virus was first isolated, it is almost exclusively associated with paralytic polio. Sabin or Leon swept through the Middle East and Africa during the 1980’s causing thousands of cases of spinal paralytic poliomyelitis.
