5 Cases of Polio in Amish Group Raise New Fears

[rodeodance]

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/08/national/08polio.html?th&emc=th

November 8, 2005
5 Cases of Polio in Amish Group Raise New Fears
By GARDINER HARRIS

LONG PRAIRIE, Minn. - Polio was pronounced dead in the Western Hemisphere years ago, after one of the most successful public health campaigns in history. But now it is stealing through a tiny Amish community here in central Minnesota, spreading from an 8-month-old girl to four children on two neighboring farms.

So far, no one has been crippled by the disease; only 1 in 200 cases of polio results in paralysis. But worried public health officials say it may be only a matter of time.

The story of how polio came to this dairy farming community of 24 families, with 19th-century ways that include a deep-rooted suspicion of vaccination, is both a medical whodunit and a cautionary tale, suggesting that eradicating polio may prove far harder than anyone thought, even in the developed world.

No one expects that the United States will be visited by the kind of outbreaks that recently flared up in Africa and Asia, frustrating the longstanding goal of eliminating polio for good by the end of this year. But the Long Prairie cases highlight a weakness in the worldwide campaign.........

[opihimoimoi]

1. Damn Damn Damn...quintiple Damn.... very sad news indeed

[opihimoimoi]

2. Damn Damn Damn...quintiple Damn.... very sad news indeed

[opihimoimoi]

3. Damn Damn Damn...quintiple Damn.... very sad news indeed

[alphafemale]

4. "A Paralyzing Fear" Is an info rich documentary about Polio.

PBS did it I think.

They interveiwed one woman still in an "Iron Lung." I'd thought there were better options now.

It also surprised me to learn that so few people with polio actually became paralyized. (1 in 200 as you said.)

[still_one]

5. a few years back I new a mother who contacted polio

after her newborn was vaccinated with the oral vaccine

That is why today they use the dead vaccine which still transmits immunity, but NOT the disease

[ToolTex]

6. Religion and ignorance screw humankind once again.

n/t