Now that that is out of the way, today I wanted to write a little about something interesting I read today and did a little further research on. I really enjoy reading and learning and thought it was prime time I begin sharing some of what I learn daily with my little section of the internet.
Polio
Not many people nowadays really know what Polio is. They know that it is a debilitating illness that happened far in the past that they don't have to worry about. The truth is though, that in the not too distant past Polio was Boogeyman come to life that paralyzed nearly 300,000 people, with estimates from 10 to 20 million polio survivors worldwide. Parents and children alike were terrified of Polio, especially considering it struck the young more readily. In the first half of the 20th century, with WWII raging on, a polio pandemic struck Europe, North America, Australia, and New Zealand. There was and is currently no cure for the disease, and there was no vaccine that we taken for granted today.
An unlucky young victim of polio in the 1940s maybe have swam in a public swimming pool, drank after someone, or forgot to wash their hands. After a few days, he would have begun to feel ill as if he had a flu (fever, sore throat, headache, fatigue, etc). Soon after he may have begun to have trouble walking, have poor reflexes, muscle spasms, and even sudden paralysis. He may have woken one day and found himself in some horrific, medieval torture-device-looking monstrosity like this:
"No, no one forced me to smile I swear."
The Iron Lung
The Iron Lung did just that. It did not provide oxygen, but by using negative pressure it forced the lungs of the patient to expand and contract. It used pure force to lovingly force your polio-ridden air beasts to suck up life-giving breath. Patients needing the iron lung had paralysis such that their diaphragm was unable to work the lungs on its own. If our young victim was lucky he would spend only a few months in the summer in an iron lung. If he was really lucky, he would spend about 2 weeks before being strong enough to breathe on his own. If he was particularly unlucky he would spend upwards of a two years or more forgetting what his lower extremities look like. And he won't be alone. There will be many children sharing his fate.
Many
Many
Many children.
It's easy to read and look at pictures about something that happened decades before you were even thought of, but what was it really like to be little Billy (I named him)? Let's say it's 1952 when polio was at its peak. Billy is 9 and lives in a nice little town that he has never left. He comes down with something, and a few days later is rushed off to the hospital. Billy, who runs, jumps, and chases his dog for a living, suddenly can't feel his left leg anymore and is struggling to breathe. He is utterly terrified in this new place, with these new people, and is hearing adults whispering about polio when they think they are out of earshot. Billy has known a many kids already who have gotten polio, and a few who died. How would you feel? What were you doing when you were 9?
Shortly after he has trouble breathing, he is whisked away again to a distant hospital that has one of the very expensive iron lungs (as costly as a house in today's dollars). He still hasn't been told anything about what is going on because in 1952 people didn't care quite so much about Billy's mental state. He falls asleep or maybe passes out at some point and when he wakes up he can't see his body anymore.
Billy says goodbye to his body.
Because Billy's family is solidly working class people, his parents can't afford to visit him except very few and far between times. Billy is alone, scared, and can't understand why he can't get out of the machine because still no one has told him what it is doing for him. Maybe Billy is lucky (but not too lucky) and only has to spend 6 months in the iron lung. During this time Billy will probably see his parents once or twice, and will spend much of his time alone. One iron lung patient described his experience much like Billy. He recalled a few terrifying moments when one of the "port holes" on the side of the machine came open and he was unable to call to help because he couldn't breathe. Miraculously each time a nurse found him struggling (this was prior to alarms being put on the machine). I don't know about you, but that just makes me want to gulp in some fresh air and pass out from oxygen overdoses.
Billy probably spent some time talking with other children (though sadly many of his new friends would die before he goes home), being read to by kind nurses, and possibly even learning some things in the absence of school or listening to the radio. One survivor describes forgetting how to write, walk, and read in his time spent in an iron lung.
Billy's little sister can't figure out what the hell he is doing.
This guy just wants to be read to.
A few years after Billy recovers as best he can (he might still be able to walk with crutches), the polio vaccine will come out. Mothers and grandmothers will cry, and children will line up at school to eat a flavored sugar cube containing the vaccine. It wasn't without controversy, as there were cases of the vaccine giving polio to some recipients, but it would largely wipe out the pandemic of polio, killing the Boogeyman.
Today
Today the iron lung is all but retired. We now use positive pressure ventilation, which consists of intubating patients so that oxygen goes directly into their lungs. Amazingly, there are still people in iron lungs today. June Middleton died in 2009 at 83. She spent 60 insane years in an iron lung after she contracted polio at age 22. There are estimated fewer that 40 people still using an iron lung today.
As for polio, despite Bill Gates' best efforts, it is still around. There is still no cure for polio. It has largely been eradicated in the developed world because of the polio vaccine, but there are fears that it might resurface due to the anti-vaccine movement that irrational, ignorant parents have jumped on. Please vaccinate your kids.
In the third world, polio is still a large problem. In Pakistan and Africa right now there is an outbreak of polio due to the Taliban banning inoculation, and being openly hostile to the World Health Organization's (WHO) attempts to vaccinate the 20+ million children in those countries. Recently a strain of the virus in Syria that has crippled 13 children was linked to Pakistan. That has to stop, seriously.
Thanks for reading guys. Leave me some feedback and let me know if you found this interesting, informative, boring, too long, etc. I'm off to get my butt kicked by Jillian! See you next time.
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