Question

You must have seen the “Do boond zindagi ki” advertisement on television. The advertisement is for a pulse polio campaign. Those polio drops are actually a
A) Probiotic
B) Antibiotics
C) Antigen
D) Antibody

Answer 1

Poliomyelitis often used as polio is a disease that is caused by poliovirus. It affects the central nervous system and results in flaccid paralysis. It is spread through food and water contaminated with fecal matter.it has three serotypes- PV-1, PV-2 and PV-3 having different capsid proteins.

Complete answer:
Polio has no permanent cure but polio vaccine has been developed to prevent the disease. Two types of polio vaccines have been developed- inactivated poliovirus given by injection (IPV) and weakened poliovirus given by mouth (OPV). The first successful vaccine was developed by Hilary Koprowski in the year 1950. IPVs are very safe to use. After two doses of injection ninety percent or more individuals develop antibodies against all the three serotypes of poliovirus. OPV is administered through mouth and one dose produces fifty percent immunity against the three serotypes and three doses produce around ninety-five percent immunity. OPV are preferred over IPV because they produce long lasting immunity and are also easy to administer. Among the two vaccines though OPV is more effective than IPV but the later is safer because in many cases with OPV the active virus resulted as a result of recombination.
So the correct answer is option (C) Antigen.

Note: Most of the countries in the world are now declared polio free following the discovery of the polio vaccine. It is thus important to have an idea about the vaccine composition through which thousands of people have gained immunity against the disease.