Is the polio vaccine dangerous? Polio vaccination and an unvaccinated child: pros and cons

Is the live polio vaccine dangerous for unvaccinated children? Why is the administration of kindergartens trying to separate vaccinated children from unvaccinated ones, and why can children vaccinated with a live vaccine calmly attend preschool institutions and play in common sandboxes? There are many legends and rumors, superstitions and assumptions about the OPV (live strain) vaccination. There's really no danger this vaccination has no idea, and only a severely weakened child can become infected with the virus.

Characteristics of the disease

Poliomyelitis - acute infectious viral disease with serious consequences such as paralysis. The virus is transmitted through dirty hands or when communicating with an infected person. The virus is found on household items, which makes it especially dangerous. You can get polio through contact with contaminated objects or contact with a carrier of the poliovirus. The virus is resistant to environmental aggression and can remain active for up to four months.

You can get infected at any age, but children up to age are more likely to get the disease. school age. Poliovirus enters oral cavity and multiplies in the mucous membrane. Next, it penetrates the intestines, and then penetrates into spinal cord. A complication after the disease can be paralysis, in some cases the virus is fatal.

To protect humanity from deadly dangerous virus, two vaccines were created - with live and inactivated (killed) bacteria. Thanks to routine immunization of the population, it was possible to eliminate foci of mass infection of people. The danger lies in the impossibility of setting correct diagnosis in the initial stage of the disease: polio resembles a common cold! Symptoms of the disease are:

headache and muscle pain;
cough and runny nose;
hyperthermia;
gastrointestinal disorder.

Diagnosis is possible only after the virus has penetrated the spinal cord, when paresis and paralysis occur. Poliomyelitis cannot be cured through inpatient treatment or traditional therapy. Therefore, vaccination the only way avoid illness and complications. IN currently Live vaccine (OPV) is used in the form of drops in the mouth.

Immunization is carried out in conjunction with DTP vaccination. After instillation of the vaccine, you should not drink or eat food for at least an hour. If the baby regurgitates the vaccine, he is re-administered the required dose. Revaccination is carried out at 1.5 years and 14 years. After this, the body is considered protected for 15 years.

How is immunization carried out?

Many mothers worry that the vaccine may trigger polio instead of developing an immune response. However possible complications after vaccination are less dangerous than complications after polio.

First OPV vaccination is done to a child after six months, since earlier introduction of a live culture can give severe complication. The vaccine is dripped either onto the baby’s tongue or onto the tonsils.

A contraindication to vaccination is severely weakened immunity. And a person with a weakened state can become infected from a child vaccinated with a live vaccine. immune protection. Immunodeficiency poses a serious risk to an unvaccinated child.

Why is live culture dripped if it poses a risk? dangerous disease? Because the OPV vaccine gives more reliable protection from the virus than an inactivated (killed culture). However, for children with weak immune defenses, a live culture cannot be administered, so they are vaccinated with an inactivated strain of bacteria.

Important! A child vaccinated with a live vaccine is a carrier of the virus for 60 days.

Side effects and complications

Side effects from polio vaccination are similar to common complications after all vaccinations. These include:

headache;
nausea;
hyperthermia;
bowel disorder.

However, these symptoms do not pose a threat to health. The danger lies in illness after immunization with a live culture. Therefore, it is strictly prohibited to vaccinate a child who is known to have a weakened immune system or who is recovering from a cold.

What is dangerous complication after vaccination? This is vaccine-associated polio, which can occur within a month after immunization - on any day starting from the fourth. Symptoms of this disease are expressed in:

temperature increase;
changes in coordination of movements - limbs do not obey;
loss of sensation in the limbs;
change in gait.

If a child complains of pain, has a limp or drags a leg, this is considered an acceptable reaction to the vaccine. This condition will correct itself in a few days; the child does not need to be treated. Shown antihistamines(as recommended by the pediatrician) when allergic symptoms or antipyretics for hyperthermia.

IN severe case paralysis may develop. If this pathology persists for more than two months, a diagnosis of vaccine-associated polio can be made. However pathological changes not found in all children, but in those who are weakened or suffer from neurological disorders. There is a certain risk of disease in children with intestinal dysbiosis, since disruption of the microflora contributes to the activity of the virus in a favorable environment.

Important! Before vaccination, the baby should be checked by a neurologist and dysbacteriosis treated.

Is vaccination dangerous?

Can an unvaccinated baby get sick after contact with a carrier of the virus (vaccinated child)? In children's preschool institutions There is a practice of separating vaccinated children from unvaccinated ones. However, vaccinated children go to nursery/kindergarten without hindrance. Disunion concerns only unaccustomed children. Why is this happening?

Why are carriers of the active virus allowed to visit a nursery/kindergarten and communicate with unvaccinated children? Because you get infected with a virus healthy baby cannot, only children with severe immunodeficiency will suffer. But there are very few of them: practically, there are no such children. If carriers of the virus posed a threat to the surrounding children, they would not be allowed into public children's institutions for 60 days. Therefore, parents should not worry about their unvaccinated children: there is no danger.

What happens during contact with a carrier of the virus? An unvaccinated baby receives a certain portion of the vaccine strain, resulting in passive immunization. For a baby to get sick, certain conditions are necessary:

severe immunodeficiency;
prolonged contact with a carrier of the virus;
The route of transmission is certainly oral-fecal.

Even under these circumstances, the disease will not be pathogenic in nature, and the baby will not receive paralysis. The maximum that can happen is the symptoms of a cold, which will end quickly. Another problem after contact with a carrier of the virus can be intestinal upset. However, intestinal disorders occur in young children even without vaccine strains.

Bottom line

We have found that there is no danger from a carrier of a live vaccine. An unvaccinated baby will simply receive a small passive immunization from this virus. Even if the baby has a weakened immune system, he will not receive paralysis after infection. What can a child expect in this situation? Symptoms common cold which is easy to treat. In other cases, infection is expressed in general malaise and stool disorder. Severe consequences can only occur in a child with a severely weakened immune defense and neurological problems.

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Our neighbors in Ukraine had a polio outbreak in 2015. On the dangerous prospect of UNICEF ( Children's Fund UN) warned at the beginning of 2015. Reason – low level vaccinations. According to official data, in Ukraine the number of children under 1 year of age vaccinated against polio at that time was only 14%. As a result, two kids were paralyzed. But this is the tip of the iceberg, and at the invisible “depth” there are hundreds of children who have recovered from the disease, who may subsequently be at risk of post-polio syndrome.

Poliomyelitis in a child: a disease of unwashed hands?

Poliomyelitis, or the so-called infantile paralysis, is a disease caused by an RNA virus (poliovirus). The main route of transmission is fecal-oral from a sick person to a healthy person. And unwashed hands are not always to blame for infection. A child can get sick if he licks a toy that was previously licked by a sick peer. The airborne route of the virus is also possible, for example, when sneezing or coughing.

The peak incidence occurs in summer and autumn. However, in warm countries there is almost no such seasonality; the virus is dangerous throughout the year due to high temperature air. Incubation period Poliomyelitis - the time from the moment of infection to the appearance of the first symptoms - lasts from 3 to 35 days, more often 6-20 days. A sick child releases a huge population of viruses into the environment through feces and saliva. Even in dried feces, the virus lives for up to several months.

Fact. There are three known strains of the polio virus. Immunity after infection is lifelong. But, having been ill with one of the strains, you can subsequently suffer from another.

What happens when you become infected with polio?

Approximately 70% of children who “catch” the virus will not have any symptoms of the disease at all. 25% will have flu-like symptoms: severe fever, fatigue, headache or stomach pain. The discomfort will last about 2-5 days and go away on its own or linger for 2-3 weeks or even months. The remaining 5–6% will develop serious signs: pain in limbs, inflammation meninges, paralysis

Fact. Even after full recovery and after 15–40 years, people who had polio as a child may develop post-polio syndrome. Its signs are muscle pain, paralysis And this happens quite often: different sources, in 25–60% of cases.

Most babies exposed to the polio virus do not get sick, but become carriers or carry the infection to mild form, reminiscent of the flu and manifested by general malaise, fever, sore throat, intestinal disorders. In this case, polio can be detected only after a special blood test for antibodies.

How to escape from polio?

Vaccines have been developed to combat polio. There are two types of drugs - live and inactivated. Alive, but weakened, appeared first. Its author is an American virologist of Polish origin, Hilary Koprowski. Vaccination began on February 27, 1950. Later, the American virologist Albert Sabin modified the composition and obtained a product that we know today as oral polio vaccine (OPV). It also consists of living, but weakened strains of the polio virus types 1, 2, 3. And the second type of polio vaccine - inactivated (IPV), with killed viruses, was developed a little later, in 1952.

Fact. There is still no cure for polio, and vaccinations are the only possibility protect yourself from this potentially fatal disease. The paralysis resulting from infection is irreversible.

How are polio vaccines different?

What is the difference between OPV and IPV?

OPV administered orally, dose – 4 drops, or 0.2 ml. IPV – intramuscular injection, injection.

IPV forms a specific humoral immunity, antibodies appear in the child’s blood that block infection. OPV works more broadly; it also strengthens local intestinal immunity.

OPV in in rare cases in unvaccinated children it can cause a serious complication - vaccine-associated polio (VAPP). This does not happen when using IPV. In practice, a mixed vaccination scheme is used, both drugs are administered.

OPV is produced in the Russian Federation. IPV is traditionally purchased abroad. However, in February 2015, a Russian company producing OPV presented the first samples of an inactivated vaccine of its own development. So soon, perhaps, a domestic inactivated polio vaccine will be used.

Fact. Most countries use OPV because it has the ability to cause local immunity intestines. Thanks to this, the transmission of wild (living in nature, and not settled in the body of an adult or child) poliovirus is stopped in natural environment. This is impossible in the case of using IPV, which only provides personal protection every person from polio and is unable to prevent the spread of the source. That is why during any outbreak of polio, mass immunization is carried out with OPV.

Poliomyelitis danger level

The risk of becoming infected with wild polio virus is very high. In 1988, at the 41st World Health Assembly, a resolution was adopted to eradicate polio from the world. This marked the beginning of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), led by most governments around the world.

Fact. Since 1988, the number of polio cases has decreased by more than 99%, from 350 thousand cases to 37 cases reported in 2016. Which means more than 16 million people of different ages was saved from paralysis by properly administered vaccination programs.

Doctor's advice
In extremely rare cases, children may experience flaccid paralysis in response to vaccination. If you notice alarming or simply unusual symptoms within 5-7 days after vaccination, contact your doctor immediately.

Polio vaccination schedule

IN National calendar Russia's vaccination program includes six polio vaccinations. The first three are given at 3, 4.5 and 6 months, then revaccination comes at 18 and 20 months and, finally, at 14 years. In our country there is a mixed prevention scheme: the first procedures are carried out inactivated vaccine so that the risk of complications is minimal. The third and subsequent ones - OPV is carried out in order to form not only humoral, but also intestinal immunity to the virus. If a child has received four doses of an inactivated polio vaccine for health reasons, then they will try to give the fifth one with OPV for broader and more lasting immunity.

Fact. In some European countries abandoned the live polio vaccine. She became unnecessary. Due to universal vaccination coverage of children and adults, collective immunity has formed in society. As a result, the threat of infection has dropped to a minimum. Unfortunately, Russia cannot boast of such achievements. In addition, in Ukraine, which borders Russia, cases of polio are often detected, and it is also “brought” to us by labor migrants from Afghanistan and Tajikistan.

Who is at risk for polio?

Many parents are afraid of vaccine-associated polio (VAPP), and rightly so. The disease is not caused by a wild virus and does not spread from an infected person. Its source is the vaccine itself. The disease can develop in a baby after the first dose of an oral polio drug is administered if the baby’s immunity is sharply reduced. Therefore, before vaccination, a careful examination by a doctor is necessary. The use of live oral polio vaccine also requires caution: after the procedure, the child releases a weakened strain into the environment for almost 60 days. And those who are not vaccinated run the risk of becoming infected.

Fact. VAPP can only develop in children with HIV or after long-term treatment, which suppresses the immune system (chemotherapy). In all other cases, there is virtually no risk.

Or not? IN Lately Questions about this are increasingly arising. And along with them, parents worry about whether an unvaccinated child can become infected from a vaccinated child.

Whatever the parents’ decision, vaccinations have not yet been officially canceled and, for example, they continue. In connection with a new wave of discussion about the need for vaccinations, the question arises: is it possible for vaccinated children to communicate with unvaccinated children? Experts have dispelled myths about vaccinated and unvaccinated children.

Can a vaccinated child infect an unvaccinated child: opinion of Tatyana Sadovnikova

Most modern vaccines do not contain live pathogens. These are either killed microorganisms (viruses, bacteria), or their fragments, or toxoids - preparations obtained from toxins secreted by bacteria, but completely devoid of toxic properties. After vaccination with such drugs, the child himself, of course, does not release any live bacteria or viruses and, accordingly, cannot infect anyone.

Some vaccines are live but weakened. These are, for example, vaccines against measles, rubella and chickenpox. The virus that we inject into the patient is not viable, and even if it is released from his body after vaccination, it is not capable of causing disease in people around him, including children. Even for weakened adults - cancer patients receiving severe immunosuppressive therapy, as well as for pregnant women - the vaccine is practically safe.

Vaccinated children do not pose any danger to others, except for one single exception - this is the period after vaccination with a live (oral) polio vaccine. After such vaccination, the child can shed the virus during external environment up to 60 days. During this period, transmission of the live virus is possible through close contact, and an unvaccinated child may become ill. However, if he has been vaccinated at least twice with an inactivated polio vaccine, then the risk of developing vaccine-associated polio is reduced to zero, which means contact with children who have received oral live vaccine, in this case are safe.

Is it possible for vaccinated children to communicate with unvaccinated children: the opinion of Alexander Lobanikhin

Restrictions exist only when vaccinated with oral polio vaccine (OPV). Most often, the first three vaccinations (at three, four and a half and six months) are carried out with inactivated polio vaccine (IPV), after which patients have no restrictions on contact with unvaccinated children. OPV is usually used during revaccination (at 18 and 20 months, as well as at 13 years). A child vaccinated with oral polio vaccine (OPV) releases weakened, low-virulent strains of polio pathogens into the environment for some time. When such a child comes into contact with an unvaccinated child who has an immunodeficiency, the risk of developing the so-called vaccine-associated polio (VAP) in the unvaccinated child increases.

I would like to emphasize that for this risk to occur, an unvaccinated child must be in immunodeficiency state. However, in the event of potential contact between an unvaccinated person against polio and an OPV vaccine, it is recommended that either vaccination of the unvaccinated person or, if there are contraindications or refusal to vaccinate, separate these children for 60 days from the date of OPV vaccination.