Fear of Poliomyelitis

This week's phobia is: Poliomyelitis

Fear level: 3

Why I am afraid:
     Diseases in general are rather frightening.

Why the fear makes sense:

•  I would think most people would be frightened of being infected with an incurable disease that causes paralysis and death.

 Some facts:

• Polio is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus.  It invades the nervous system, and can cause total paralysis in a matter of hours.
• Polio mainly affects children under 5 years of age.
• One in 200 infections leads to irreversible paralysis.  Among those paralyzed, 5% to 10% die when their breathing muscles become immobilized.
• Outbreaks can still occur in the developed world, usually in groups of people who have not been vaccinated.  Polio often occurs after someone travels to a region where the disease is common.
• As long as a single person remains infected, people in all countries are at risk of contracting polio.  Failure to eradicate polio from these last remaining strongholds could result in as many as 200,000 new cases every year, within 10 years all over the world.
• There is no cure for polio, it can only be prevented.
• Polio has been eradicated in the United States since 1979.

How I plan to get over this fear:

• I will look into whether I have been vaccinated for this disease.
• Look into whether there have been any confirmed cases of polio in the United States in the last few years.