Fifty years ago today the polio vaccine was introduced.

[Cleita]

For those who don't know what it was like before the vaccine, let me tell you about childhood friends who fell to the disease.

There was no prevention or cure. There were only vague warnings about how to recognize the signs before it was too late, not too late for the child who contracted it but for the children who could be warned away from their stricken friends before they got it. My mother's phone often rang and from the tone and words she used I knew when she hung up she would tell me Susie (or Joanie) had come down with polio and was taken to the hospital. I wouldn't be able to play with her for awhile. No I wouldn't be able to visit either.

If a child lived through the disease, paralysis from a mild shortening of one leg to crippling a child for life in a wheel chair almost always was the legacy of the disease. Many of my friends continued in school after surviving the disease with specially fitted shoes that would compensate for the differences in leg size. Many others had leg braces, crutches and wheel chairs. Many would go through life with withered limbs.

One of my friends died after struggling to live for six months after contracting and surviving the disease. The paralysis had affected her organs and even heroic efforts could not save her.

This is one of the monumental good things that happened in the last century. I often wondered how our parents lived with this threat to their children of this hanging over their heads and how today's parents have the security of a little vaccine to make this not even a worry.

[XemaSab]

1. FDR was such a hero to struggle with this disease

and overcome it and win the presidency.

It's totally outrageous that we haven't eradicated this disease in the world. We got rid of smallpox, why not polio?

[dflprincess]

10. And today is the 60th anniversay of Roosevelt's death

The announcement of the vaccine was made on the 10th anniversay of his death.

I remember a few years ago one of the networks did a Top 100 Scientific Advances of the 20th century show. Naturally, one of the items on the list was the Salk vaccine. What impressed me, was that Salk refused to patent the it because he wanted as much of the vaccine made as quickly as possible.

The day after the show aired, a guy at work and I were discussing the lack of patent on the vaccine. The guy is my age (we were 2 when the vaccine came out) and we both have known people who had polio. Our younger (twenty something) coworker just couldn't believe we admired Salk for this. As she pointed out "Didn't he know he could make a lot of money with that?". She just couldn't conceive that getting rich might not have been Dr. Salk's primary motivation. I don't know if this is because she grew up in the Reagan "greed is good" era or because she really didn't have a clue about what polio did to people. Maybe a combination of both. Can you imagine what the pharmacutical companies would charge for the vaccine now?

On the other hand, a happier polio story. Several years ago my then 12 year old nephew and I ran into an acquaitance of mine who has a very bad limp as a result of having polio. After she left, my nephew asked if she'd been in an accident, I explained the limp was from polio. He asked "What's polio?". All I could think when he said that was that Dr. Salk would probably have wept with joy if knew there were now kids who have no idea what the disease is.

[Warpy]

2. I was "lucky," I got it when I was two

and my problems with walking were eventually overcome. My mother was so paranoid about the disease (and clueless about how the immune system worked) that she signed me up for one of the early mass trials. Then she signed me up for the trial for the oral vaccine.

THAT is how horrible that disease is.

Don't think that your kids will be safe just because everybody else's kids have been vaccinated. Polio doesn't work that way. It's an enterovirus and it exists in the environment. Not vaccinating your kids for this one can kill them even if you never see another case of the disease where you live.

[illflem]

3. Polio hit the small town I lived in very hard

about 20% of the kids had it in varying degrees. Good to see that one gone and it was gone fast.
Still remember the day we all lined up for our sugar cubes...

Makes me wonder if some of todays diseases have such an ultimate cure that it being held back by the powers that be.

[knowbody0]

4. my brother got polio from the vaccine

his right pectoral muscle completely atrophied

[DearAbby]

5. I remember, I was 5 or 6 having the vaccine on a safety sucker...Cherry

in fact. Amazing what humans can do, when they think for the health and welfare for all mankind.

[Cleita]

6. There is that risk with all vaccines.

I am sorry your brother was one of those who actually contracted the disease.

[minerva50]

7. My retarded aunt, was one of the kids at Polk State School that

Salk tested the vaccine on, to show its safety. She died two weeks ago. Grandpa and Grandma were always proud that she was able to make a contribution to an effort that saved so many other children.

[Lars39]

8. Dianne Odell, the nation's longest Iron Lung survivor...

"Dianne has been confined to an iron lung for 53 years. She had polio as a child, and has been at home all of these years being cared for by her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Freeman Odell, and an around the clock nursing staff. The cost for Dianne to be at home is around $1000.00 per week. In spite of all her problems, Dianne is a ray of sunshine for everyone who visits. The citizens of Jackson have rallied around Dianne when needed and she has been designated as a community child. She has very little financial aid and is dependent upon the foundation.<snip>

Please send cards to Dianne Odell, 133 Odell Road, Jackson TN 38301. She loves visitors and getting mail is the highlight of her day."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From what I understand, her government benefits pay very little. :(

http://www.annebabin.com/tf3_2/17.html

[Rockerdem]

9. Polio was very scary.

I was only 4 in 1952 when I had an infection in my leg. It wasnt polio, but I remember well my parents intensity at the time, altho I was too young to understand the scare. I also remember a few years later standing in massive lines, waiting to take the vaccine.

The things we take for granted now.

[kineneb]

11. I remember the sugar cube when I was little

Although I was born in 1958, there was still concern about polio when I was little. My grandmother made sure I got the Salk vaccine as soon as I could and then the Sabine vaccine a little later. As a member of Rotary, I am proud to support the work our organization is doing with the WHO to eradicate polio.

Great article on the vaccine in this month's Smithsonian Mag.

[Blue_In_AK]

12. I got the polio vaccine before it was even approved.

This would have been in 1952 or so. We had been visiting my aunt in Florida who was not feeling well the day we left. By the time we got back home to Ohio, she was in the hospital with polio, not even expected to live through the night. Apparently our doctor had trial vaccine because my brother and I were hustled out of the house to the doctor's office in the middle of the night and got our shots. My aunt ultimately made a full recovery which everybody called a miracle. There was even a huge write-up about her case in her hometown newspaper. I too had friends who were not so lucky.

[LibDemAlways]

13. My late father-in-law contracted polio

while in the Navy during WWII. There was a big outbreak among the troops stationed in San Diego. The disease left him with a pronounced limp and weakened leg muscles which eventually led to a bad fall
and broken leg that never properly healed.

Before polio he was a promising gymnast and avid hiker. The disease changed the course of his life and darkened his outlook.

Thanks to the work of Salk and Sabin, my generation and those that followed have largely escaped this nightmare of a disease.

[The Whiskey Priest]

14. Did I not read sometime back that polio was trying to make a come back.

because kids were no longer getting inoculated?

[Cleita]

15. On the news, they mentioned there have been outbreaks

in parts of Africa because the mullahs are telling the parents not to get the children vaccinated.

[eridani]

16. One of the three greatest medical inventions of the 20th century

The other two were Fleming's discovery of penicillin and the Banting and Best discovery of the role of insulin. What do all three have in common? Their inventors didn't make a damned dime off of their discoveries. So much for the big pharma notion that insane levels of profit are necessary to motivate and pay for discovery.