JAN/FEB, 2020 | The HEALTH
ISSUE: POLIO OUTBREAK
11
A profi le on Polio
Name: Poliomyelitis
Status: infectious disease caused by the
poliovirus
DOB: circa 1789; age 200+ years old
last location in malaysia: tuaran, sabah,
malaysia
Origin: said to have existed over 3000
years ago from mummies and ancient
egyptian art. first identifi ed as a virus in
1908 by the austrian immunologist Karl
landsteiner. lives in an infected person’s
throat and intestines.
Likes: direct touch, causing paralysis;
especially the legs. tropical areas. exposed
food & water sources. Wet fi elds. faeces.
Dislikes: vaccination. cleanliness – proper
hand sanitisation. clean toilets with proper
piping system.
Symptoms:
• Sore throat
• Fever
• Tiredness
• Nausea
• Stomach pain
up to 95 per cent of polio cases are
asymptomatic. only a small number
of people may experience mentioned
symptoms. one in 200 infections leads to
irreversible paralysis (usually of the legs).
Note:
The virus enter the body through mouth. Happens
when the mouth comes in contact with the faeces
or saliva of an infected person via the person’s
hands. It can also be transmitted when a fl y carrying
faecal residues come in contact with food.
When poliovirus encounters the nerve cells, the particle
attaches itself to the protruding receptors in the protein
structure – and infection begins. The virus hijacks the
cell’s assembly process and duplicates itself in hours –
killing the cell and then spread to infect other cells.
Long term sequelae – lower-limb deformities and degenerative
joint disease.
I will always
remember
the words
my mother
said to me
about having
something
others don’t.
I worked hard
to be where
I am today, I
have seen the
world through
my travels,
and I have
been teaching
people how
to become
good leaders
for a long time
now.”
— Pak Sheikh
PICTURE TAKEN FROM HTTPS://AMHISTORY.SI.EDU/POLIO/VIRUSVACCINE/HOW.HTM
One day, the boy cried once he reached
home as he always does. however on this day,
his crying was a bit more intense, and it went
on a little too long.
her mother, comforting him, asked why he
was crying a lot more than normal. Th ey boy
said: “Today, the whole class actually made fun
of me. All of them!” he cried.
“And how is this diff erent than the times
you were being teased?” asked his mother.
“Because normally it was only these fi ve
boys that made fun of me. But this time, the
whole class did it!” he cried louder.
It was at this time the boy’s life changed. Th e
next few words that came out of his mother’s
mouth made the boy to what he is today.
his mother told him to sit upright, wiped
the tears from his cheeks, and asked him a
question.
“Omar, what is it that makes people make
fun of you? What is wrong with you?
Th e boy was confused, but he answered
nonetheless.
“It’s my leg mom! My leg is not normal, so
they make fun of me!”
her mother then asked.
“Okay, but what do you have, that no one
else have?”
he was confused again, this time not know-
ing exactly what to answer.
“You have this!” she pointed at his temple.
“You have the smarts, the mind that others
don’t,” she continued.
“My mind?” the boy asked his mother this
time.
“Yes. And that mind of yours will take you
further than any of the people living in this
town.”
Th e boy was stunned. his mother reminded
him of the academic accolades he had received
over the years he was in school, despite the
never-ending teasing from his peers.
“Omar, just remember this,” his mother said
to him.
“You can’t walk like your peers, but you are
the smartest boy in your school. Your peers can
walk without a problem, but they can never
beat you here,” she again pointed at his temple.
Th ose words cut into him like warm knife
through butter. It provided him with a shield, a
shield that from here on out, will never shatter
by the words of people.
he looked forward to going to school the
very next day.
The day he walked through them
next day came, the boy was ready. he walked
along the road to his school like he always does.
Th is time though, he walked high.
Maybe it was luck, or maybe it was fate,
but the boy’s face lit up when he saw the lorry
driving down the road towards him.
Th e lorry driver, now a bit older, still stopped
to wait for the handicapped boy to abuse. he
was ready to start calling him names, and will
try to get his spit on the boy this time.
But when the boy came close to where he
parked the lorry on the side of the road. Th ey
boy didn’t froze in terror like how he used to.
he kept on going, never once glanced at
him. he rudely called the boy names, but he
didn’t even slow down his pace. Th e boy passed
the evil man he was so scared of before, just
like that.
Th en came the part where the boy must go
through the school’s front gates, where the fi ve
boys who made fun of him awaited.
he reached the front gates, and there they
were. Th e boys started to limp, imitating the
way he walked while calling him ‘elephant feet
with deer calve’ and all that.
he stopped to look at them as they were
teasing and making fun of him. her mother’s
words shielding him from the pain.
And then the boy said: “Oh, poor you! You
all can’t even walk properly now! I pity you!”
he said.
In that instance, the boy knew that nothing
could hurt him now. And he walked away from
his limping peers and continued with life.
Th ey tried again to tease the boy, they boy
defl ected and continued to strut away every
time. After a week of failed attempts. Th e fi ve
boys gave up trying to make fun of the boy.
Soaring high
his mother’s words still guarded him as he
grew older and wiser, the boy graduated top
of his class and made it out of the small town
he was in when he went to further his studies.
Th ey boy now has become a man, a man with
nothing but fulfi lment in his life.
Th at same boy who is living with polio and
was teased by his peers became a professor, and
have gone further than anyone had been from
his childhood town in Kelantan, even with that
limp.
Th at boy is Pak Sheikh. he had spent the last
43 years in teaching and research at University
Putra Malaysia (UPM). he even has his own
consulting company, teaching corporate execu-
tives leadership programmes.
“I will always remember the words my
mother said to me about having something
others don’t. I worked hard to be where I
am today, I have seen the world through my
travels, and I have been teaching people how
to become good leaders for a long time now.”
Pak Sheikh leads a fulfi lled life now. he has
fi ve children and 14 grandchildren. he enjoys
the company to whom he can tell his stories to,
and we were lucky to have heard them. — Th e
Health