What are the possible clinical outcomes of poliovirus infection?

• A. Fever and rash
• B. Clinically inapparent, non-paralytic poliomyelitis, and paralytic poliomyelitis.
• C. Only asymptomatic infection
• D. Only paralytic poliomyelitis

Answer: (B)

Poliovirus infection can range from no noticeable illness to mild illness to serious nerve involvement. Most people have no symptoms at all (inapparent infection). A subset experiences a mild disease with symptoms of meningitis but no paralysis (nonparalytic poliomyelitis). A smaller group develops paralytic poliomyelitis, where the virus injures motor neurons and causes acute flaccid paralysis, which can be spinal or bulbar in location and may lead to long-term disability. Because the full set of possible outcomes includes all three: inapparent infection, nonparalytic poliomyelitis, and paralytic poliomyelitis, that option best captures the spectrum.

The other choices don’t fit because fever with rash isn’t a defining outcome of poliovirus infection, and restricting outcomes to only asymptomatic infection or only paralytic disease ignores the other present forms.