Post-injection Injuries and Polio

Abstract

Injection-induced injury during childhood is common. The usual clinical manifestations include (1) foot drop, (2) equinovarus, (3) buttock abscess, (4) gluteal fibrosis, and (5) quadriceps fibrosis. Injection injury is more likely in newborns and small babies where the skin and nerves are in closer proximity to each other than in older children. Many of the intramuscular injections given annually in developing countries are unnecessary yet are administered due to patient or family demand and caregiver overprescription. There is a prevalent belief in traditional settings that painful injections are more powerful and effective, even when adequate and recommended oral treatments are readily available. In many African languages, the words for “fever” and “malaria” are the same, and all fevers are treated as if they were malarial.