We are so close by David Anderson, MD

In 1985 there were over 350,000 cases of paralytic polio in the world. These were basically all in third world countries, as polio had been eradicated, due to immunization, in the United States and Europe and Asia in the 1970s. For the young people who do not know what polio can do, as it is no longer a threat here, it is a virus that can cause permanent paralysis of major muscle groups, including respiratory muscles leading to death.
Prior to the introduction of polio vaccine in the 1950s, it was a big worry for families. I remember asking a retired pediatrician what was the worse illness he had to deal with in the 1940s and 1950s, and he said, without hesitation, “Polio!” It was the worst diagnosis he could tell a mother, as it could cause permanent paralysis or even death, and there really was no treatment. I remember my own mother being so happy when it was announced (at the University of Michigan) that Jonas Salk’s polio vaccine was effective.
Yet in the United States, there was at least medical support, rehabilitation, “iron lungs,” even surgery at times to move muscles around. But in the third world countries there is very little of this. So polio remains another real worry for mothers in the third world. For a child, for a family, the illness of polio is much more devastating for them.
As I said, in 1985 there were more than 350,000 cases of paralytic polio in the world Last year there were 212. So far in the first two months of 2013, there have been only five.
To me as a physician, this is amazing and wonderful. I know that polio can be eradicated from the world, because it only exists in humans. There are no “carriers.” It is like smallpox, which as recently as the 1960’s was killing thousands of people worldwide, but there have been no cases of smallpox anywhere in the world since 1970s. That virus is gone from the world.
So what has happened to polio? In 1985, Rotary International saw those horrible numbers and decided to attempt to eradicate polio from the world.
It has been a very difficult and daunting task; for example, 85 million children under five were immunized in just one month, March 2010. Imagine the logistics of transporting and providing adequate storage for that many doses of the vaccine, but we did it. And it continues. We have partnered with UNICEF, WHO and Bill Gates to make this happen and now polio exists only in Nigeria, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. Data suggest that perhaps by 2014 or 2015, we will have eradicated polio from the world. Read that last sentence again please. We are so close.
I am a member or Rotary because of this. I think it is so important.
How can you help? Rotary members, especially me, will be coming around and asking you to pay for us to paint our hair green on St. Patrick’s Day. It is what we fondly call “Green Hair Day.” Please donate generously, as every penny goes to the eradication of polio in the world. Make tax deductible checks payable to Healdsburg Rotary for Polio Eradication.
Thank you. We are so close.
Dr. David Anderson is a Rotary Club member and retired physician in Healdsburg.