Polio, a highly contagious viral infection that can cause paralysis and death, has been eradicated in Canada for decades thanks to extensive vaccination efforts.
There is no cure for polio. It can only be prevented, and doctors warn that if vaccine rates continue to decline as they have in recent years, it could open the door to Canada's virus' return.
“That's ridiculous,” said Pat Murray, a polio survivor who was sick in just nine months.
“That's heartbreaking.”
Murray was diagnosed in Winnipeg in 1953 at the height of the polio epidemic.
She was told that her neighbor's daughter shared her lollipop with her and her sister. Both were extremely ill due to the virus.
“My dad said when I was in bed I could only move my head from side to side.
Many people who have been infected with the virus experience mild or no symptoms or symptoms, but develop more serious complications, including permanent disability. In severe cases, polio can lead to paralysis, weakness, and in some cases death.
Murray currently lives in postpolio syndrome.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, postpolio syndrome (PPS) is a condition that can affect people decades after their first infection 10 to 40 years.
The Academic Medical Center says that about 30-40% of people with polio develop PPS. It causes progressive muscle weakness and atrophy.
There is no treatment, so treatment focuses on the management of symptoms.
“As time goes by, you lose more and more,” Murray said.
“Your muscles will become weaker and weaker.”
Murray is a member of the Wildrose Polio Support Society. All of its members live with the effects of the PPS of the virus decades later.
Bernie Horn, who signed polio as a toddler, spent her childhood wearing a brace on her right foot.
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“I just grew up with it. That was me,” he told Global News.
“I didn't have a sweet 16 party. There was a party that burns the braces.”
For Ferne Hymanyk, Polio was hit when he was nine years old. She remembers being sent from her family's countryside Alberta Farm to Edmonton General Hospital.
“It was a very traumatic time because I'd never left home,” she said. “We had a ward that was all polio. Both feet were affected, one shoulder was affected, and the spine was affected.”
All the groups gathered to share their stories with global news due to concerns about the possibility of seeing the virus return to Canada.
“(That's) horrible,” said Honeyk. “That would be very upsetting.”
They hope that by sharing what they have been going on for decades, others will be seriously warned of a decline in vaccine rates.
“It makes no sense to me for people to believe in misinformation and disinformation rather than good, solid, hard science that means your child can grow up and lead a normal life,” Murray said.
Throughout the early 20th century, polio outbreaks began to occur more regularly, particularly in the summer months, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Before the first polio vaccine was developed in 1955, the disease spread mainly from person to person, through contaminated water and fecal particles, paralyzed hundreds of thousands of children each year.
Little is known about how the disease spread, leading to a pool and empty playground that was closed in the summer, as parents tried to protect their children from illness.
People avoided crowded areas during the epidemic, and hospitals filled with children wrapped in iron lungs after the virus fixed their breathing muscles.
The World Health Organization and partners launched a polio vaccination campaign in 1988 with a bold goal of eradication. This is a feat seen only once before human illness in 1980 at a natural po.
They have come close several times, including in 2021, when only five cases of natural viruses were reported in Pakistan and Afghanistan. However, the case has been repulsive since then.
Afghanistan and Pakistan continue to be the only countries where polio transmission is never interrupted, which is highly infectious and affects children under the age of five, which can cause irreversible paralysis within hours. The global campaign has focused most of its attention and funding over the past decade.
Polio was eradicated in Canada in 1994, but with a drop in vaccination rate, doctors speculated that it could return.
According to Statistics Canada, approximately 91% of Canadian children receive the recommended polio vaccine dose by their second birthday, below the 95% required for strong herd protection. Statistics Canada data shows that the number of countries has remained relatively unchanged for over a decade.
However, in Alberta, Statistics Canada said the estimated range of polio vaccines has decreased by the age of two (meaning that a child has given them three doses) over the past decade. It was about 85% in 2021 compared to 93% in 2017.
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Polio is being eradicated in Canada. Will vaccine skepticism return?
Polio is part of Canada's daily vaccine schedule and is given to infants as part of a combination vaccine. It is called DTAP-IPV-HIB-HB and protects against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (pertussis cough), polio, influenza B (HIB) and hepatitis B.
Vaccines are usually given multiple doses during the first few years of their lifetime, ensuring long-term protection against illness.
According to the CDC, the polio vaccine protects against severe disease caused by the poliovirus in almost everyone who received all recommended doses.
Two IPVs provide at least 90% protection. Three IPVs offer at least 99% protection. The most common side effect is pain in the arm after a shot.
Who said that as long as one child is infected, children are at risk everywhere. Eradication requires zero cases of excess-polio nearby and more than 95% of children to be vaccinated.
For survivors, discovering vaccines was life-changing. Murray remembers asking her mother if her children would face the same fate.
“She said, 'No, your child will be fine,'” Murray recalled.
“If the other kids don't have to suffer, it made me so happy.”
– Katie Dangerfield and Karen Bartko files, Global News and the Associated Press