poliovirus

My name is Poliovirus.
I'm an Enterovirus from the family Picornaviridae.
I have 3 serotypes, mostly I give people type 1.

Most most people who get me are asymptomatic.
Then a few more get fever, vomiting, headache and sore throat.

A small proportion get my well-known paralytic polio.
I get into the spine or brain.
In spinal paralysis I affect your arms and legs.
In the brain I cause bulbar paralysis of the respiratory muscles.
Then you need an 'Iron Lung' to breath for you.

Some people spend their whole life in an Iron Lung.