Public Address | Cafe | Access: Persistent Polio

Hilary Stace

Sun, 18 Oct 2015 22:41:06 +1300

Thanks Rosemary.

Rosemary McDonald

Sun, 18 Oct 2015 21:58:34 +1300

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/72967707/polio-victims-societys-forgotten-about-us

We spoke to more than 20 Kiwis who believe they are suffering from post-polio syndrome. Most complained their GP did not know about the syndrome, or did not take it seriously. Many had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis or Parkinson's.

Of the 20 DHBs contacted by the Star-Times, only…

Hilary Stace

Sat, 05 Sep 2015 16:20:03 +1200

Two Ukrainian children paralysed by polio http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2015/09/04/comment-polio-back-europe-because-people-arent-vaccinating-their-children

George Darroch

Fri, 28 Aug 2015 09:58:27 +1200

It seems likely that we will need to continue vaccination in a number of countries for some time after polio is eradicated.

This isn't actually as bad as it sounds. Mass polio vaccination has created the infrastructure for universal vaccination for other communicable diseases, and helped establish healthcare systems in…

Seriatim

Fri, 28 Aug 2015 09:27:45 +1200

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/aug/27/man-found-to-have-been-shedding-virulent-strain-of-polio-for-30-years

Hilary Stace

Sat, 22 Aug 2015 17:05:42 +1200

A year free of new polio cases in Africa.

Seriatim

Mon, 17 Aug 2015 21:02:25 +1200

I've had polio too but have never referred to myself as "a polio" – ew – or even heard the expression before this article.

Hilary Stace

Mon, 17 Aug 2015 19:59:24 +1200

Thanks Gordon. I didn't feel comfortable using that term although it seems to be readily used by some, and is even on the Polio NZ website. The other contentious word – and one I avoid – is 'victim'.

Sacha

Mon, 17 Aug 2015 19:01:06 +1200

Good to hear from you, Gordon.

Gordon

Mon, 17 Aug 2015 17:42:49 +1200

I certainly don't refer to myself as a "Polio" – I am a polio survivor because I'm a person who survived polio and live with the paralytic after effects and now some late effects. However I don't define myself by an illnes i once had. As one of the younger…

Hilary Stace

Sun, 16 Aug 2015 13:01:07 +1200

Thankyou RichardBody. I really like the idea of people gathering and sharing their own family histories, particularly when it involves our largely unrecorded polio history (or other disability themes). Even the DSIR is now merely a memory.

RichardBody

Sat, 15 Aug 2015 02:47:20 +1200

(Apologies for the double post – my wife has now passed her eye over the comment and I'm unable to edit the earlier one. Feel free to remove it)

Hi Hilary,
Thank you for your writing. My late father-in-law, Bob Thaine, had polio and your post has triggered family memories…

Hilary Stace

Thu, 13 Aug 2015 22:12:40 +1200

They refer to themselves as polios. I checked whether someone without polio could also use that term and it seems fine. Seems to be a convenient term without political overtones. That 'people with' language debate doesn't seem to be an issue. Perhaps because this is an older group predating disability…

Sacha

Thu, 13 Aug 2015 21:43:20 +1200

I could call us 'wankers' Martin but I doubt that reflects well on any of us.

Martin

Thu, 13 Aug 2015 21:33:56 +1200

No different than me calling myself a para I reckon Sacha. And while para has absolutely no political connotations, I wouldn't strip 'polios' of any

Sacha

Thu, 13 Aug 2015 20:05:21 +1200

I reckon people calling themselves 'polios' is no different that calling themselves 'cripples' or 'spastics'. Mediating self-identification and group interests has been poorly argued. Recent links remedying that are most welcome.

Hilary Stace

Thu, 13 Aug 2015 17:16:35 +1200

One of the concerns of polios today is the lack of understanding or knowledge of polio by clinicians. Most will have never seen a case. Several said they liked new immigrant doctors from Asia or Africa as they usually had up to date experience.

Angela Hart

Thu, 13 Aug 2015 14:48:31 +1200

and now we are all so lucky to have access to safe and effective vaccines, but unfortunately so many people have no experience of serious illness and believe the anti-vaccination crackpots, so that we have whooping cough, measles and other diseases we don't need to be contending with still affecting…

wendyf

Thu, 13 Aug 2015 14:38:13 +1200

Thanks for the story, Hilary. My mother sang the praises of Sister Kenny as a person who stood up to the medical fraternity and persevered. I well remember the 1940's epidemic. It was a fabulous time for many of us kids.Glorious summer! I was lucky because my folks had access…

Seriatim

Wed, 12 Aug 2015 00:32:16 +1200

Yes there have been others; I remember reading that it's an "unstable" vaccine. Whatever that means.

B Jones

Tue, 11 Aug 2015 17:04:35 +1200

Ebola vaccine research has been at least partially government-funded. The NZ government funded the development of the MeNZ-B vaccine back in the 2000s. I'm sure there are other examples.

Rosemary McDonald

Tue, 11 Aug 2015 14:52:28 +1200

Good luck getting a Big Pharma megacorp to give up its IP for the common good these days.

....because there's gold in them there 'ills...

TracyMac

Tue, 11 Aug 2015 14:36:15 +1200

I suppose the difference these days is that probably no pharmaceutical researchers are independently or govt funded these days. Good luck getting a Big Pharma megacorp to give up its IP for the common good these days.

B Jones

Tue, 11 Aug 2015 13:14:04 +1200

OPV is getting phased out worldwide because of the risk it can revert back to virulent form in rare cases. It hasn't been used in NZ for a decade or so, and I can just about remember its odd strawberry chemical taste from about 1981. But it's easier to store…

Rosemary McDonald

Tue, 11 Aug 2015 12:41:42 +1200

and in a weird twist of fate, a practice nurse in the UK in the early sixties contracted a mild form of polio from the vaccine.

I knew this person, there may have been others.

Hilary Stace

Tue, 11 Aug 2015 12:12:08 +1200

My oldest sister remembers schools being closed for most of the first term in one epidemic. They weren't allowed out of their little street or to play with neighbourhood kids and certainly not allowed to go to the pool, even though it was a very hot summer. But they were…

Hilary Stace

Tue, 11 Aug 2015 12:08:33 +1200

She caught polio on the boat to the UK – basically on her OE. Then spent a long time in the dreaded iron lung recovering – her descriptions of it are horrific.

Hilary Stace

Tue, 11 Aug 2015 12:06:40 +1200

Thanks Joe. I was going to mention June Opie as her book was very popular in our school library and I remember it very vividly. I didn't realise she was a New Zealander till recently. She wrote a follow up in the 1990s.

Joe Wylie

Tue, 11 Aug 2015 11:18:36 +1200

A unique and highly readable personal survivor's account – the late June Opie's Over My Dead Body.

Sue

Tue, 11 Aug 2015 11:15:22 +1200

my mum remembers having a whole 3 months off school when polio hit woodville and all the kids were kept at home just in case. it was a most boring time as the one thing you couldn't do was go out and play with your friends.

My neighbour meets up…

Rosemary McDonald

Tue, 11 Aug 2015 10:57:13 +1200

In a magnanimous gesture, Salk never patented the vaccine.

"Vaccine Developer Chooses Not to Exploit Human Misery"

Not a headline we're likely to see nowadays.

Excellent post Hilary, as usual.

When is the book coming out?

TracyMac

Tue, 11 Aug 2015 10:55:15 +1200

Great social history of the disease and its effects in NZ. Thank you.

Hilary Stace

Tue, 11 Aug 2015 10:46:25 +1200

The 'polios' I have met (that is what they tend to call themselves) are some of the staunchest pro-vaxxers you could find (unlike the autism community which still argues about it).

George Darroch

Tue, 11 Aug 2015 10:22:35 +1200

A fascinating local history Hilary. Thank you.

Raymond’s right about Rotary’s role – without that impetus, and the support of the Gates Foundation, this effort would have stalled or slowed. We’re now getting there, very quickly. The figures that Hilary mentions are found here, and you can see countries being…

Hilary Stace

Tue, 11 Aug 2015 10:21:48 +1200

Thanks Raymond. Yes Rotary have been dedicated to this cause for a long time. I am from the era when we lined up in the classroom to have the cherry pink drink in little paper cups.

Raymond A Francis

Tue, 11 Aug 2015 10:11:30 +1200

Well done Hillary, you have covered this well
I well remember the day off school work in the late 50s when we were given our injections, with the drops being given a year or so later ( much less traumatic)
Rotary may have an image of old fuddy duddies but…

Hilary Stace

Tue, 11 Aug 2015 10:03:24 +1200

A couple more links

The type of Australian-designed iron lung used in NZ
http://samhs.org.au/Virtual%20Museum/Medicine/Bothurinlung/bothironlung-netley.html

The UK Nuffield Foundation donated one to every hospital in the British Empire.

http://www.marchofdimes.org/glue/images/Main_celeb_4.png
Elvis getting his vaccine shot. He was a great supporter of the March of Dimes

Public Address

Tue, 11 Aug 2015 10:03:24 +1200

Discussion from blog post.