Polio is a serious infectious disease. The virus is located in your stool (faeces or poop) and in your throat. Most people who are infected hardly even notice, or have flu-like symptoms. In a small group of people, the virus can cause meningitis and/or paralysis of arms or legs. Sometimes the infection also causes paralysis of the muscles needed to swallow and breathe. If that happens, you could die.
Factsheet on polio
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How does the virus spread? |
From coughing or sneezing, and through hand contact |
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Symptoms |
Usually flu-like symptoms. Sometimes meningitis and paralysis of the arms or legs, or the muscles used to swallow and breathe |
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Which vaccinations protect against this disease? |
DTaP-IPV - Hib - HBV vaccination, DTaP-IPV vaccination, DT-IPV vaccination |
Polio often starts with flu-like symptoms. They usually go away on their own. The symptoms may get worse, including vomiting, headaches and muscle aches. In rare cases, the virus spreads to the nervous system and brain. If this happens, it can cause meningitis and/or paralysis of arms or legs. On very rare occasions, it causes paralysis of the muscles used to swallow and breathe. That can lead to paralysis or death. Some people develop new symptoms of paralysis and muscle weakness years later. This is called post-polio syndrome.
If you are infected, the poliovirus is present in your stool (faeces or poop), intestines and throat. After you use the toilet, the virus may also be on your hands. This makes it possible for you to infect others. Through hand contact, the virus can also end up on all sorts of surfaces that you touch. Examples include water taps, doorknobs, toys, dishes, silverware, but also food.
If you sneeze, cough, talk or shout, you can also transmit the virus in small airborne droplets. If other people swallow the droplets, they could become infected. The time between exposure and the first symptoms of illness is usually 7 to 14 days. Infection never takes longer than 35 days.
If you have been vaccinated against polio in the National Immunisation Programme, you are protected against the 3 types of polioviruses. A person who has already had polio is only protected against the same type that they already had.
Polio now only occurs in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Unvaccinated travellers, immigrants and refugees from those areas can spread the virus to other countries. As a result, there were also cases of polio in Malawi and Mozambique in 2021 and 2022. To prevent the virus from spreading again, it is important that all children around the world are vaccinated against polio.
Polio also occurs in countries where an oral polio vaccine is administered to children (attenuated polio vaccine given as droplets), if vaccination coverage among children is also low. After vaccination, the children have weakened poliovirus from the vaccine in their stool (poo). The virus can then spread to unvaccinated children. If those children are exposed, the virus gets stronger again and sometimes causes polio. In the Netherlands, children are vaccinated against polio using an injection, rather than oral drops.
Vaccination can protect you against polio. Read more about the vaccinations against polio below, or read how vaccination works.
Information about vaccinating against polio
There is no treatment for polio. If you have polio, your body has to clear the virus on its own. If a polio patient becomes paralysed, they may have to be on artificial ventilation, possibly for the rest of their lives.
Polio vaccination was included in the National Immunisation Programme in 1957; before that, there were several hundred cases of polio in the Netherlands every year. During epidemics, reported cases of polio reached 1,500 to 2,000 infections.
After polio vaccination was introduced, there were a few minor epidemics within groups that reject vaccinations for religious reasons. The last polio epidemic in the Netherlands occurred in 1992/1993 among people who were not vaccinated against the poliovirus. Polio has been completely eradicated in the Netherlands.
Outside the Netherlands, polio now only occurs in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Unvaccinated travellers, immigrants and refugees from those areas can spread the virus to other countries. As a result, there were also cases of polio in Malawi and Mozambique in 2021 and 2022.