The “Types” of Polio
Question: Can you get multiple “types” of Polio?
Dr. Bruno’s Response: Yes, you can be infected at the same time with more than one type of poliovirus.
But, polio survivors should be very careful about their belief, often without evidence or as part of family lore, regarding the “types” of polio they had. This is especially important now that poliovirus from the oral vaccine has been found in wastewater in Canada, Israel, the UK and US, and you may be deciding if you need polio vaccination.
During the polio epidemics, and still today, there is confusion with there being three types of poliovirus and three types of clinical polio:
Three Types Of Polioviruses
You could have been infected by one (or very rarely more than one) polioviruses:
Type I (Mahoney, the epidemic strain that caused most cases of polio),
Type II (Lansing) or
Type III (Leon).
Statistically, polio survivors were infected only with the Type I poliovirus. Each of the three types of poliovirus is genetically different and therefore each requires its own unique polio vaccine to get the body to generate the specific antibodies needed to counteract each type of virus. Unfortunately, the three different polioviruses get confused with the “three types of clinical polio”:
Three Types Of Clinical Polio
Bulbar Polio
Indicates the virus affected your brain stem and would cause trouble swallowing and breathing;
Spinal Polio
Indicates the virus primarily affected your spinal cord and would cause limb paralysis;
Bulbar-Spinal Polio
Indicates the virus affected both your brain stem and your spinal cord, which would cause limb paralysis and trouble swallowing and breathing.
Some polio survivors were told that the body areas affected were determined by infection with specific types of poliovirus. So, someone who had bulbar polio might have been told that they had one type of poliovirus, while someone with bulbar-spinal polio might have been told that they had two types of poliovirus. Any of the three polioviruses could have caused spinal, bulbar or bulbar-spinal symptoms.
The symptoms that you experienced were not predetermined by the type of poliovirus that got into your body. When you talk to your doctor about the need for polio vaccination, don't depend on your original polio symptoms or family memory to decide the type of poliovirus you had and type of vaccine you may need now.
Check Your State's Health Department and CDC Websites and
Talk To Your Doctor About The Need For Vaccination.
Adults who are unvaccinated or are unsure if they have been fully immunized (including polio survivors, who likely had only one type of polio) would need a total of 3 vaccine doses.
Adults who only have had 1 or 2 doses of the polio vaccine would need to get all 3 doses.
Adults who are at increased risk of exposure to poliovirus and who have previously completed a routine series of polio vaccine can consult with a health care provider and receive one lifetime "booster" dose of Injectable polio vaccine.
Polio Vaccination Recommendations for Specific Groups | CDC CDC.GOV