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The younger readers among you may have no memory of poliomyelitis. Older folks may remember avoiding swimming pools and movie theaters for fear of infection, or standing in lines in school yards to be vaccinated. Painter Frida Kahlo, actress Mia Farrow, and violinist Itzhak Perlman all had polio as children. This highly infectious, paralytic, sometimes fatal disease can be prevented by vaccination but can’t be treated or cured.
I was on the staff of Rotary International in the 1980s when Rotary joined with the World Health Organization, UNICEF, and the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to eradicate polio. Thirty years later, the partnership also includes the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), and the global incidence of polio is down more than 99.9%. Wiping poliovirus from the face of the earth, like smallpox before it, is the only way to keep polio from surging back. World Polio Day events around the world will raise awareness tomorrow, Tuesday, Oct. 24. The main celebration, at BMGF headquarters in Seattle, will be livestreamed. Click here to watch at 2:30 p.m. Pacific Time or view a recording afterward.
3 Comments
Rhonda Peterson
10/23/2017 02:33:18 pm
My father had polio in the mid-1930s when he was about 11. He was in a children's hospital for nine months or so. Because he was supposed to rest his muscles except during physical therapy, he was strapped down in bed. Pretty challenging for a young boy! He emerged, though, with only somewhat weakened muscles in his neck and shoulder, so counted himself lucky. I wondered if it had damaged his heart, though, as he had heart problems starting in his late 50s and died at 62.
Rhonda, thanks for sharing your father's story. Hard to imagine an 11-year-old boy strapped to his bed for nine months! I hadn't heard of polio affecting the heart, but http://www.gbppa.org/cardio.htm suggests people with post-polio syndrome might be at increased risk for heart trouble, for reasons specified in the article. Sixty-two seems younger every year. Leave a Reply. |
AuthorI'm a historian who writes novels and literary nonfiction. My home base is Madison, Wisconsin.
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