POLIOMYELITIS

Poliomyelitis

Poliomyelitis, often called polio or infantile paralysis, is an acute, viral, infectious disease spread from person to person, primarily via the fecal-oral route. The term derives from the Ancient Greek, meaning "grey",, referring to the grey matter of the spinal cord, and the suffix -itis, which denotes inflammation., i.e., inflammation of the spinal cord’s grey matter, although a severe infection can extend into the brainstem and even higher structures, resulting in polioencephalitis, producing apnea that requires mechanical assistance such as an iron lung.

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poliomyelitis

Noun

  1. Acute infection by the poliovirus, especially of the motor neurons in the spinal cord and brainstem, leading to muscle weakness, paralysis and sometimes deformity.


The above text is a snippet from Wiktionary: poliomyelitis
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

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