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Poliomyelitis, or polio, is a serious infectious disease that attacks muscle-controlling nerves and can eventually cause paralysis. Poliomyelitis, sometimes called infantile paralysis, is caused by one of three related viruses, and it primarily affects children. However, adults can also be infected. There is no drug that can cure the disease once a person has been infected.

Poliomyelitis is infectious, meaning it is spread primarily through contact with someone who already has the disease. The virus enters the body through the mouth and then enters the bloodstream. Once in the central nervous system, it travels along nerve pathways. In severe cases, it reaches the spinal cord or the brain where it causes lesions (abnormal changes in the...