Poliomyelitis

Polio is a viral disease which may change the spinal cord causing muscle weakness and paralysis. The polio virus enters the body through the mouth, usually from hands impure with the stool of an infected person. Polio is more common in infants and young children and occurs under conditions of poor hygiene. Paralysis is more regular and more severe when infection occurs in older individuals. Polio is spread when the stool of an infected person is introduced into the mouth of another person through impure water or food.

Oral-oral transmission by method of an infected person's spit may account for some cases. Patients are mainly infectious from seven to ten days before and after the onset of symptoms. However, patients are potentially infectious as long as the virus is present in the throat and feces. The virus persists in the throat for just about one week after the onset of illness and is excreted in the feces for three to six weeks. In up to 95 percent of people affected with polio have no symptoms. However, infected persons without symptoms can still extend the virus and cause others to develop polio.

About four to five percent of infected public have minor symptoms such as fever, muscle weakness, headache, nausea and vomiting. One to two percent of infected persons expand severe muscle pain and stiffness in the neck and back. Less than one percent of polio persones result in paralysis. The incubation period is commonly six to 20 days with a variety of three to 35 days. It is three types of polio virus. Lifelong protection usually depends on which type of virus a person contracts. Second attacks are exceptional and result from infection with a polio virus of a different type than the first attack.

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Measles

Measles is a highly contagious viral disease that can be very serious or yet fatal. It begins with a fever that last for a couple of days, followed by a cough, runny nose, and conjunctivitis (pink eye). A pimples starts on the face and upper neck, spreads down the back and trunk, then extends to the arms and hands, as well as the legs and feet. After about five days, the rash fades in the similar order it appeared. Serious complications of measles contain pneumonia and encephalitis.

It is extremely contagious. The measles virus lives in the mucus in the nose and throat of impure people. When they sneeze, cough or talk, droplets spray into the air and the droplets remain active and infectious on infected surfaces for up to two hours. Measles symptoms usually appear in two stages. In the first stage, which last two to four days, the individual may have a runny nose, cough and a slight fever. The eyes may become mottled and sensitive to light while the fever slowly rises each day, often peaking as high as 103° to 105°F. Koplik spots may also appear on the gums and within of the cheeks.

The second stage begins on the third to seventh day and consists of a red blotchy rash permanent five to six days. The rash frequently begins on the face and then spreads downward and outward, reaching the hands and feet. The reaction fades in the same order that it appeared, from head to extremities. Other symptoms contain weight loss, diarrhea and enlarged lymph glands all over the body. Symptoms generally appear in ten to 12 days, although they may happen as early as seven or as late as 18 days after exposure.

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Ghana Cocoa Board to clash Virus Disease

The Unit Director of the Cocoa Swollen Shoot Virus Diseases of the Ghana Cocoa Board, Reverend Abaka Awusi has announce plans to fight the virus. The Control Unit will embark on a nation-wide exercise to rid all cocoa farms of mistletoe, a parasitic plant that retards development and yield of cocoa trees.

Reverend Awusi announce this during a cocoa farmers assembly at Nkrankwanta in the Dormaa Municipality of Brong Ahafo. He said the farmer's access to government’s subsidize fertilizer this year will be partially reliant on their level of co-operation in the mistletoe deletion exercise. Reverend Awusi said farmers must participate fully in the work out when those billed to remove the parasite get to their farms.

The Chairman of the Unit’s Management Committee noted that swollen shoot virus like the HIV has no cure and the only medicine is to cut down the affected cocoa tree. He advised farmers to refrain from picking usual cocoa pods for the purposes of nursing but consult the cocoa extension officers and the seed manufacture unit for advice and supply.

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