What does polio mean?
Polio is the everyday name for poliomyelitis, an infectious disease caused by poliovirus. The virus can damage the nervous system, and its most severe form may lead to temporary or permanent paralysis. Although polio can occur at any age, children have historically been especially vulnerable. The introduction of effective vaccines has made polio preventable and has supported large-scale international efforts to eradicate it. In current writing, “polio” is normally treated as an uncountable disease name, while “poliomyelitis” is used in medical and historical contexts. The word also carries historical associations with hospital wards, rehabilitation, and campaigns for mass vaccination, making it both a medical term and an important example of the successful control of an infectious disease through public-health action.
nounPolio, short for poliomyelitis, is an infectious viral disease that can damage the nervous system and sometimes cause temporary or permanent paralysis. It is especially dangerous to children but can affect people of any age.
- An acute infectious viral disease, formally called poliomyelitis, that can affect the nervous system and cause paralysis.
"The polio vaccine has transformed public health by preventing the disease in millions of people."
"Health workers in the region began a campaign to ensure that every child received the polio vaccine."
"The archive contains photographs documenting the impact of polio on families and communities in the mid-twentieth century."
This plural is uncommon because “polio” is usually treated as an uncountable disease name; “polio cases” is more natural when individual instances are meant.
"The archive includes records of polios diagnosed in the town during the 1950s."
A disease once feared worldwide, polio is now largely preventable through vaccination, making the vaccine one of the great public-health successes of modern medicine.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does polio come from?
The word is a shortened form of “poliomyelitis.” That term combines Greek polios, meaning “many,” with myelos, meaning “marrow,” and the suffix -itis, meaning “inflammation,” reflecting an older understanding of the disease as inflammation affecting the spinal cord. The shorter form “polio” became established in general use, especially during the twentieth-century campaigns against the disease.
Related word forms
How polio is actually used
“Polio” is the everyday, widely used name; “poliomyelitis” is the formal medical term. The disease is generally treated as uncountable in modern usage, although “polio cases” is common when referring to individual instances.