Polio survivors face new challenges

On Monday, National Public Radio aired a story about Dr. Lauro Halstead, a doctor who published his research about what would come to be known as post-polio syndrome (PPS) 25 years ago this month. Halstead’s research described PPS as a condition that affects polio survivors decades after they were first struck by the disease and causes new weakening in muscles and joints, as well as general fatigue and exhaustion after minimal activity. For his work to educate the medical community about PPS, some polio survivors call him the “champion of the post-polio community.”

One of the reasons Halstead can speak with authority about the condition is that he survived polio and now experiences the symptoms of PPS himself. At 73 years old, he continues to work and the list of patients waiting to see him is growing. He uses a motorized scooter to get around, wears a leg brace, and takes naps in the afternoon to help his fatigue. When he talks with patients about ways to live with PPS, he often suggests some of the techniques that have helped him. Sometimes its a hard sell. Polio survivors have usually worked hard to regain a “normal” life and are proud of being independent people. Trying to convince them that they need to slow down and use canes, braces, or wheelchairs is difficult because they feel like they’re giving in to the disease.

National health and polio organizations estimate that there are between 440,000 and 775, 000 polio survivors alive today. PPS may effect 25-60% of them. At the same time, the number of doctors specializing in polio is falling as the disease is defeated. The number of people infected with polio was greatly reduced in the 1950s and 1960s as vaccines were created and there hasn’t been a new case of polio in the United States since 1979. Dr. Halstead is one of just a handful of doctors who specializes in polio but he’d like to retire. He’s hoping to find a young doctor that he can mentor to take over his practice first.

The NPR website for this story contains the original radio broadcast and a summary of the story. It also includes many postings from polio survivors suffering from PPS in which they talk about the ways they have learned to cope with the symptoms.

PBS “Polio Crusade”

On Monday night, “The Polio Crusade” aired on PBS’s American Experience. The hour long show documented the role of President Roosevelt and the March of Dimes organization in the effort to eradicate the disease. While new advances were being made in the treatment of polio patients, scientists were also racing to find a vaccine. Dr. Albert Sabin, who worked at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and was the head of pediatric research at the University of Cincinnati, was steadily developing a vaccine using live strands of the polio virus. Another scientist, Dr. Jonas Salk, received support from the March of Dimes and set up a bustling laboratory at the University of Pittsburgh. He quickly developed a vaccine using the killed virus and was ready to test his vaccine by 1954. Thousands of children received shots. Sabin’s live vaccine, while more effective against multiple types of polio and providing lifelong immunity without booster shots, was not fully licensed until 1962. It quickly became the preferred vaccine. It was effective and easy to administer because was mixed with distilled water and taken orally. During the winter of 1961-1962 Youngstown, OH was one of the first immunization programs to use Sabin’s vaccine. It was administered in schools and even at sporting events.

The Youngstown State University Archives has digitized photographs of this immunization program given by Dr. Kurt Wegner. Dr. Wegner was the Polio Program chairman of the Mahoning County Medical Society.

To see an Iron Lung respirator used for polio patients and to learn more about polio, visit the Rose Melnick Medical Museum’s online exhibit “Life in the Iron Lung: Polio and the modern respirator.”