How many of you remember Polio? I saw a guy I went to high school with in church today. I haven’t seen him in 47 years. He had Polio when he was young. I remember a half a dozen kids that wore braces on their legs from contracting it. I remember my mother keeping us inside all summer after a kid in the neighborhood came down with it. I remember we took the vaccine on a sugar cube, I was 9 or 10.

Does anyone else remember being afraid you were going to be crippled from it?

Everyone used to be afraid their kids would get it.

Often those kids that were sheltered the most were the ones that got it.

remember the same from the late 60s and the sugar cube, knew two kids who had the braces,

I guess that I was too busy to be afraid. At the elementary school I attended there were two classrooms where the "crippled kids" were taught. We were kept separate from them except for one 15-minute period in the afternoon when we could go in and visit them. There were kids with braces, crutches and those that were confined to wheel chairs. The worse afflicted could not speak or often even hold their heads up. I always felt sorry for them, but since there was no one in my family or among the friends that I knew that was afflicted, I never felt threatened or vulnerable. I finally did get vaccinated when I was in the 6th grade, as I recall, but it was an injection, not the sugar cube.

It was a different world. I clearly remember the teacher walking the entire class to the hospital to get the sugar cubes in 1963 as 8th graders. It was about a mile each way. My generation is the first to live without the fear of polio.

Mine was in the shot form as the oral polio vaccine hadn't been either discovered yet or if so approved for release. Seems like later on though I did get a booster with the oral vaccine. Even more scary than the threat of having to wear leg braces was the threat of winding up laying inside a "iron lung" machine for no telling how long.

My Dad had it, and beat it.

i know a guy who was crippled with it. he had a hard time walking and his speech was affected. but he was tough to play basketball with. he had some moves and could drive the ball. i still see him once in a while and he doesn't look like he's aged in 40 years.

I well remember polio, back in the late 50's and early 60's they didn't know how it was spread. My Dad was especially protective of my sister and I as kids, on the hottest summer day he wouldn't let us drink water from a public water fountain for fear of contracting polio. The first vaccine I got for polio was shot, I remember my Mother taking me to the City Board of Health for the shots and when the oral vaccine came along it was given in the public schools on Sunday. The program was called SOS shich stood for Sabin Oral Sunday for the doctor who created the vaccine.

My mom's best friend from church had it and it took her life at an early age. I remember the vaccine.

My wife and I both had it in the early 50s. One leg is a little shorter than the other but I was fortunate to still be able to earn a college football scholarship.

I remember the sugar cube. I think I recall dad telling me that the parents hated the spring coming on, as that's when Polio would hit.

My half-brother had it, a teacher in elementary school and one kid I knew of in the late 60's

I remember when i was a kid, we would go to the old high school building. people would be lined up around the school to get the sugar cube. we did have several kids that had it.
makes me wonder what happened to them.

A sister and a brother had it. I knew a more than a few other kids as I got older who had it and had arms/legs that didn't work right anymore.

When I was 4, in the early 50's, my dad had it. He spent 4 months in the hospital and rehab. He was one of the lucky ones who walked out healed. When they came out with the Salk vaccine, we were near the front of the line to get it. Later, when the came out with the Sabine version, we got that one, too.

When I was 4, in the early 50's, my dad had it. He spent 4 months in the hospital and rehab. He was one of the lucky ones who walked out healed. When they came out with the Salk vaccine, we were near the front of the line to get it. Later, when the came out with the Sabine version, we got that one, too.

Just the thought of having to live in one of those huge iron lungs was scary.

Had the shot and the sugar cube. One of the girls in my class and one of the teachers had polio.
When they sent the kids home with those cards with slots to put dimes in, my Dad filled them and told me to bring more.

Got the sugar cube at school must have been late 50s.

Funny, because of my brother's bout with polio, and my father trying to get any help from the March of Dimes, my father swore off the March of Dimes for the rest of his life. He hated those SOB's.

I rember the Sugar Cube, my Uncle had it as a Kid, and walked with a bad limp!

I recall taking the sugar cube at age 5 or 6 in 1965 or 1966. Didn’t know anybody that had it, though.

I don’t have the t-shirt, but.....

I took the sugar cube too. It was a dark pink if I remember right. They had a big cookie sheet or tray full of them.

My Granddad got when he was 13 back around 1912. His legs never developed right and he had to walk with a cane the rest of his life. His first Granddaughter/grandchild (my cousin) got it and died from complications of pneumonia when she was 7. Her Mother (my aunt) just passed away last year at the age of 95. It was at her funeral where I heard all the details of my cousin's Illness and how she had to be isolated in an iron lung for a long time about 100 miles from home. This had to be terrifying for both my cousin and Aunt & Uncle. This was back in the 40's about 10 years before my time. I do remember the sugar cubes.

It was pink, I had forgotten that. I had forgotten about the dimes too.

I remember, I guess it was the early 1960s or maybe very late 1950s, going to the local Alabama National Guard Armory one Sunday afternoon and getting it on a sugar cube. The vaccine was a pink liquid that had been put on the sugar cube. I do not recall knowing anyone that had polio, but it seems like everyone was very concerned about it.

Polio was pretty well whooped in the US by the time I was born.

Mom has told me stories though. She said they always shut down the local swimming pool with the first polio case of the year. She volunteered at the local hospital and said they’d have rows of iron lungs that’d take up a whole floor.

Amazing how far we’ve come in such a short span.

I got both the shot and the sugar cube. I used to work with a guy who had it. He was in his late 40's when I knew him and he still walked with a limp.

Ed

My mother and I both had it. I ended up with a slightly shorter left leg, left foot 1/2 shoe size smaller and a curved spine. Still played sports, hunted the mountains, worked in the trades and have had an active life.

As a result of tearing up my left knee a couple of years back I now wear a knee brace at times. The clinic I go to has a number of polio patients coming in to get their braces adjusted. The technology today has come along ways from what it used to be.

The clinician that I work with has tried unsuccessfully to get me to wear a leg brace. He says that people that have had polio are among the most stubborn, uncomplaining people he has met. They just get going and do not take you cannot do that for an answer.

All but eliminating polio and smallpox are 2 of the great accomplishments of the 20th century. We very rarely hear about polio and there hasn't been a case of smallpox anywhere in the world in several decades.

My uncle died at age 87 three years ago. He took Polio upon exit from the Navy and was in a wheel chair the rest of his life.

Took the sugar cube in the 50s
A girl a couple years older than me had polio and one of her legs was smaller and shorter. She had a severe limp. She was quite an attractive girl.
Last I heard a couple years ago, she was bed ridden with health issues.

My wife had polio in the early 1950's. She went on to teach ice skating professionally and finally went back to school and work as an OR nurse for 22 years. Her feet are in bad shape but orthotics have always allowed her to do what she needed to do.

My high school "running buddy's" mom had polio while she was pregnant with him. She spent the rest of her life in a wheelchair, and he suffered no ill effects.
I worked with a fellow, who hired on as a laborer, for a few months - he'd had it as a kid. Walked with a bit of a limp, was highly intelligent (and educated); but had a hard time holding down a job. I commented to a physician (whom we were working for) that I thought that polio affected the brain - he told me that could be VERY true, and agreed with me, in Moises' case.

I also had the shot, and the sugar cube - ca: 1960.

My mom had it when she was very young. She's had back problems all of her life, though she was never paralyzed by the disease.

My uncle had it, is as active as he can be. One leg much smaller than the other. A positive guy who works hard to do the most he can with what he has. The work his mom made him do as a child...stretching exercises etc...turned out to have helped him get stronger initially but the docs now say those muscles are basically worn out. Broke a hip and a kneecap recently...just wears out faster than normal healthy people I guess. He taught science for 30 years, was a successful guy despite the handicap

I was a young kid in the mid to late 1940s and some of my classmates and neighborhood kids were brought down by polio. Three were in the iron lung for quite a while and several suffered mild to severe damage to their lower extremities. It could be scary, but somehow we saw it as "one more thing" encountered in life. Once the vaccine was developed (I had the injection), folks relaxed a bit - and for good reason.

In my late teens I met a fellow as part of a musical group - he was a knockout guitar player - and childhood polio had badly withered his legs to the point where watching him walk was painful. Although we offered to help, he always insisted on carrying his own equipment - including that heavy Fender quad amp - and stuffed it all into the trunk of his Olds. He was brilliant with electronics - no schooling beyond 12th grade, had a great career with PG&E, and it was common for E.E.s to come find him for help with their problems. He also founded a very successful audio enhancement company (show stage sound, etc) for his son to inherit. We stayed in touch - and, sadly, when he reached his mid 60s, effects of the childhood polio returned with a vengeance. Knocked him down and killed him within 3 years.

As a long time participant in Rotary International, we carried out quite a heavy and expensive campaign to eradicate polio in the world - and almost won. Eventually I was no longer qualified to be in Rotary and do not now know the status of that battle.

My Uncle Conrad had it as well as my dads cousin, both had a hard life but it never stopped them from working.

Had the injection at first (53-54?) then the sugar cube. Remember seeing kids and adults with braces.

I remember the pink sugar cubes around 1960.Hell I would have taken a whole tray of them if they would have let me.We ate the white sugar cubes and rock candy in those days,the pink cubes were just as good.I remember one kid in town who had polio.

Never thought about it but the folks sure did.

Got that treatment as well as the smallpox scar.

I went to grammar school on an Indian reservation in southern Arizona. Got the polio vaccine and in later years the sugar cube treatment. Got vaccinated for smallpox and tested every year for TB. Seems they were constantly poking us with a needle or testing us for some disease.

I had it but was one of the lucky ones....

I remember it. And iron lungs. And the problems associated with it. And now the very late problems that have become evident, decades after the acute infection.

My experience was much the same. We saw the pictures of the rows of iron lungs in Life (?) magazine in 1952-53 and got immunizations (both vaccine and oral) as soon as they became available. Classmates with braces were maybe 1 per 200 students, as best as I remember, and we didn't know all the details about deaths. I have friends today who are still dealing with braces and/or disfigurement; most consider themselves fortunate and I privately regard them with a high degree of respect.

Rotary International, as CCCC mentioned, decided in 1985 to eliminate Polio with a world-wide project, Polio Plus . The goal was to get every vulnerable person vaccinated by 2000. The CDC and the World Health Organization endorsed that plan. The vaccine could be mass-produced for as little as 3 cents per dose and Rotarians raised the money to buy the vaccine and volunteered to go to the very corners of the earth to vaccinate.

"Since 1985 Rotary and its partners have helped reduce the number of cases from 350,000 annually to fewer than 400 in 2014, and they remain committed until the disease is eradicated. Rotary has contributed more than $1.3 billion and countless volunteer hours to protect more than 2 billion children worldwide. In addition, Rotary's advocacy efforts have played a role in decisions by donor governments to contribute over $10 billion to the effort." <https://www.rotary.org/en/historic-moments-polioplus-turns-30>

Today there are only three countries in the world with new cases of Polio (Nigeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan); the biggest obstacles to complete eradication appear IMHO to be cultural and political resistance.

I have a very expensive bumper sticker on my old Tahoe "Goodbye, Polio. Thanks, Rotary". Rotarian since 1977, happily retired now.

I remember taking the sugar cube in school.

My mom had polio in her left shoulder and arm when she was thirteen. You can kind of see in the pictures that her shoulder and arm are smaller than the other one. Her hand is crippled a little bit but she can still use it some. Growing up I never gave it a second thought. She'll be 94 on Sunday.

The Polio Plus project, as mentioned, was started by Rotary International, and is also heavily supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation. To the tune of billions of $ per year.

A good map of the current status of Polio can be found here: http://polioeradication.org/polio-today/polio-now/

The last reservoir of wild polio virus (WPV) is primarily in the Pakistan / Afghanistan border areas, and is proving to be very difficult to erase. Suspicion of vaccination teams is high, and the fact that a CIA team surveiled Osama Bin Laden's hiding place disguised as polio vaccination workers has, naturally, increased that suspicion. Vaccine workers have been injured, and killed. They are, in my mind, saints.

The story in Nigeria is much the same, with Muslim "clerics" denouncing polio vaccines as work of the devil, condemning those who listen to a real hell on earth. Fortunately, most mothers have more sense than clerics and many find ways to vaccinate their children, at huge risks to their own lives.

I lived it. My cousin came down with it and we were all exposed and quarantined. In my teen years doc told me I probably had a less severe case of it and my right side had quit growing for about 6 months.That has plagued me all my life.

My Grandma on my Dads side got it in the late 1920’s she grew up to be a nurse for 50 + years. She saw it all, from the people getting it with no cure to the Polio vaccine and almost total eradication of the disease. Even with all her experience with the disease my Mom would argue that vaccines are a government conspiracy.

She lived to see smallpox deaths decrease from 15 million a year to zero by the end of the '70's. That's the kind of conspiracy we need.

Like Reloder, I had an uncle who contracted polio and survived well into his 80s. His legs were pretty useless, but his arms and chest were so powerful he could hold himself out horizontal from a post. He worked a full career as a mailman, even though he couldn't get out of his truck. Helluva guy. I miss him tremendously.

Polio, scarlet fever, tuberculosis, mumps, and even the occasional case of cholera were very much around and on people's minds in the 50s. It was a rosy, golden era - in nostalgia. If you lived it, not so much.

Yes Rocky. Go my first Yellow Fever shot 1952. Possible outbreak in the area.

I had polio in 1944 when I was four years old. Both legs were paralyzed . Was in a hospital for about 5 months but got the Sister Kenny treatment which was hot and wet blankets wrapped around my legs and frequent but painful stretching of my legs. I came out of it with no damage to my legs.

There were two hospitals that took polio patients but only one used the Sister Kenny approach. I got very lucky in getting in the right hospital. If not I would have been in a wheel chair for life. But I got a complete recovery .

Steve

one of my high school teachers had polio as a child. As a result, his right leg was about 4" shorter than his left one.

Normal left shoe but the right one looked like something that the band KISS wore. It didn't seem to bother him much....only had a slight limp but he was a miserable prick.

The students called him "Peg leg Ned"

The banker that gave me my first loan had a shoe like that. I had forgotten about him. He was a good man!

Yes I'm 65 and remember the sugar cubes. I forgot what they.were for until now. Thank you so much for bringing this up. Thinking about this brought up a memory of my mother. My mother was on the school's PTA board and helped to organize the distribution. I remember her handing me my cube and the look on her face. Again thank you! To revive a memory like this is precious. Also, I did have a friend with polio. He overcame it and was a star player on our JR. High football team.

I remember it. I came down with it in 1952,-- the peak year for it. Upper back, neck, and shoulders. I was lucky, with the only lasting effect being pisspoor posture but I did see other kids die and remain in iron lungs. Even though that bout supposedly conferred immunity, I took both the Salk and Sabine vaccines when they were offered. While we're mentioning childhood diseases, I also had most all the others,-- mumps, measles, whooping cough, and whatever, but since then I have seldom been sick.