IPPSO NEWS MAGAZINE

It is ability that counts, not disability

From the Editor's Desk

Mike Isaacson
One of the early documented cases of Polio was that which struck Siptah, an Egyptian Pharaoh who lived for 20 years around 1200 BC. Obviously, Polio has been around for a very long time. There have been many outbreaks since then, for instance, in 1916 when over 9000 cases were reported in New York alone; in 1934 in Los Angeles where nearly 2,500 cases were treated from May through November at the Los Angeles County Hospital alone, and from 1945 to 1949 when an average of 20,000 cases each year were reported in the U.S. In 1952 there were 58,000 cases reported - the most ever. It was not until 1954, after massive field trials of the Salk vaccine and more field trials using the Sabin oral vaccine in 1958 and 1959 that the frightening number of cases each year began to drop.

I just described the vaccines as the Salk, and the Sabin vaccines, by which names they have become known since their inception, but...... was it Salk or was it Sabin who discovered the vaccine? Was it either of them? Maybe both? You might be very surprised to learn that it was neither of those two august gentlemen!

Both Salk and Sabin earned the highest honours for their respective achievements, but it was actually a Polish scientist, Hilary Koprowski who created the worlds first polio vaccine based on an oral administration of attenuated polio virus! Read all about him in an article in this issue of the IPPSO News Magazine.

Letters to the Editor

Readers are invited to send letters to the Editor on any subject of their choice. Address you emails to me at magazineeditor@ippso-world.org. I promise to publish and personally answer every email.

Michel Yuval of Miami Beach has noted that I live in the Southern Hemisphere and asks me exactly where I live. I replied to her as follows:-
I live at the very bottom of Africa, where the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean meet. The scenery here is very pretty indeed. Cape Town is a holiday resort, something like Miami - but we have mountains. Lots and lots of mountains and some lovely mountain drives too, with quite breathtaking views. To give you an idea as to how far away from Miami we are, it would take you around 34 hours (including a stopover in London) if you flew in a Boeing 727, Miami to Cape-Town.

Thanks for your letter, Michel.

From your IPPSO President, Shari Fiksdal

IPPSO would like to announce that our long time secretary, Mary Gildea, who had to step down due to her health two years, is back with us again! This makes us very happy indeed. Mary has been appointed as 2nd Vice President to the IPPSO Board and we will resume keeping the IPPSO archives, as well as many other duties. We are excited to have her back working with us! Welcome home Mimi, you have been missed by many! Mimi has started some chats on Yahoo and if you would like to join her please let her know by writing her at mimiippso@bellsouth.net Or the information is posted on our Yahoo bulletin board. You can reach the bulletin board through our main website http://www.ippso-world.org - when you open our webpage you will see a tab on the far left that says "BB and Chat", just click on it and you will enter the bulletin board where you will find people posting about the upcoming chats as well as many other issues. If you wish to join just click on become a member! Hope to see many new members on the BB and chatting!

Hilary Koprowski

Hilary Koprowski was born in 1916 in Poland. At the age of 12 he entered the Warsaw Conservatory of Music. He received his medical degree from the Faculty of Medicine at Warsaw University in Poland. He also received music degrees from the Warsaw Conservatory and the Santa Cecelia Conservatory in Rome. He chose scientific research as his life's work.

Koprowski created the world's first polio vaccine, based on oral administration of attenuated polio virus. In researching a potential polio vaccine, he had focused on live viruses that were attenuated (rendered non-virulent) rather than on killed viruses (the latter became the basis for the injected vaccine that was subsequently created by Jonas Salk. Koprowski viewed the live vaccine as more powerful, since it entered the intestinal tract directly and could provide lifelong immunity, whereas the Salk vaccine required booster shots. Also, administering a vaccine by mouth is easy, whereas an injection requires medical facilities and is more expensive. Koprowski's vaccine was taken by the first child on February 27th 1950 and within 10 years was being used on four continents. Albert Sabin's attenuated-live-virus polio vaccine was developed from attenuated polio virus that Sabin had received from Koprowski.

Koprowski has received many honorary degrees and honours from many countries, but not all has been 'plain sailing' in his life. A British journalist, Edwin Hooper, publicized a hypothesis that AIDS was inadvertently caused in the late 1950s in the Belgian Congo by Koprowski's research into a polio vaccine. The claim has been widely rejected. Koprowski himself rejected the claim, and won a clarification and $1 in monetary damages in a defamation action against "Rolling Stone" which had published an article making similar allegations. A concurrent defamation lawsuit that Koprowski brought against the Associated Press was settled several years later, but the terms were not publicly disclosed. (For more information, see "Polio Vaccines and the Origin of AIDS" in this issue off the IPPSO News Magazine.)

Hehehe Corner

Children brighten up a house – they always leave the lights on.

Polio Vaccines and the Origin of AIDS

AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) is one of the worst diseases known to mankind. Did it develop from contaminated vaccines used in the worlds first mass immunisation for Polio? There is a school of thought that believes that this theory is plausible enough to be worthy of further consideration. There are a number of reasons that support this theory.

The location coincides dramatically. The earliest known cases of AIDS occurred in Central Africa, in the same region where Koprowski's polio vaccine was given to over a million people between 1957 and 1960.

The timing coincides. There is no documented case of HIV infection or AIDS before 1959. Centuries of the slave trade and European exploitation of Africa exposed Africans and others to all other diseases then known; it is implausible that HIV could have been present and spreading in Africa without being recognised.

Polio vaccines are grown (cultured) on monkey kidneys which could have been contaminated by SIVs. Polio vaccines could not be screened for SIV contamination before 1985.

Another monkey virus, SV-40, is known to have been passed to humans through polio vaccines. A specific pool of Koprowski's vaccine was later shown to have been contaminated by an unknown virus.

In order for a virus to infect a different species, it is helpful to reduce the resistance of the new host's immune system. Koprowski's polio vaccine was given to many children less than one month old, before their immune systems were fully developed. Indeed, in one trial, infants were given 15 times the standard dose in order to ensure effective immunisation.

If this theory is correct, it has serious ethical, health and policy implications. In particular, it points to the danger of interspecies transfer of material through vaccinations, organ transplants, etc., which could lead to new variants of AIDS as well as other new diseases. As well, studying the theory may lead to insights about responding to AIDS and preventing new diseases.

On several occasions, critics have claimed that the theory has been refuted. The Wistar Committee in 1992 said the death of a British sailor in 1959, whose tissues later tested positive for HIV, made the theory implausible. However, several years later, more sensitive tests showed no HIV in the tissues.

In 2001, reports were published that polio vaccine samples held in Philadelphia from the 1950s showed no immunodeficiency viruses. This was trumpeted as a refutation of the theory. Edward Hooper later produced evidence that US-produced vaccines had been amplified in Africa using chimpanzees as a substrate, thus showing the theory could be correct.

Scientists have spent a lot of effort trying to refute the polio-vaccine theory of the origin of AIDS, but very little trying to refute the conventional view, that blood from an SIV-infected chimpanzee got into humans via hunting or eating. There is very little direct evidence to support the conventional view, which explains neither the timing nor the location of the origin.

Scientific journals have been reluctant to publish articles about the polio-vaccine theory. For example, Nature has received substantial submissions about the theory from at least six scholars but has not published any of them. Opponents of the theory have used defamation threats and legal actions to discourage publication. The result is that editorial prerogative and legal action have given the false impression that critics of the theory have been unanswered.

We repeat that Edwin Hooper's claim has been widely rejected, that Koprowski also rejected the claim, and won a clarification and $1 in monetary damages in a defamation action against "Rolling Stone" which had published an article making similar allegations.

Here's A Puzzle!!!

Where do you think this room is? Email your answer to me at magazineeditor@ippso-world.org No prizes, but I'll give you 10 points if you get it right! See next months issue for the answer!

Hehehe Corner

Jet Age Polio

From: Professor Mike Kossove, IPPSO Director

Polio is never far away in the jet age. Australia's first case of polio in 21 years underlines the importance of continued vaccination. Neena Bhandari reports July 28, 2007 "On a sweltering February day in 1951, one-year-old Maura Outterside's tiny body was gripped by high fever and muscle pain. As she became non-responsive, her parents wrapped her in cold towels and took her to St George Hospital in Sydney. A lumbar puncture confirmed every parent's worst nightmare in those days -- poliomyelitis, the viral disease responsible for crippling hundreds of thousands of children during the 20th century. Polio epidemics from 1930 to 1970 afflicted 40,000 Australians, including media tycoon Kerry Packer, talkback radio host John Laws and former Labour leader Kim Beazley. The crippling disease gripped entire communities with fear. "Kids in Victoria went to school with pegs on their noses. They didn't know how it was being transmitted," says a former nurse turned historian, doctor Kristine Klugman. "They only knew people had to be isolated. Worse, polio carried a stigma and it still does. People who had polio don't want to talk about it." A highly infectious disease, polio is caused by a virus that mainly affects children under five years of age. While 90 per cent of cases do not cause symptoms, in some cases it invades the nervous system and can lead to paralysis. The virus enters the body through the mouth and multiplies in the intestine. Initial symptoms are fever, fatigue, headache, vomiting, and stiffness in the neck and pain in the limbs. Fewer than 1 per cent of people infected suffer paralysis, but the other 99 per cent are still able to transmit the virus. Effective vaccines brought polio under control. In 1955, Jonas Salk in the US discovered the inactivated polio vaccine (IPV), and six years later his rival Albert Sabin introduced the oral polio vaccine (OPV). Australia, the Americas, Western Pacific and 51 European-region countries have been declared polio-free by the World Health Organisation (WHO). But just when the world seemed a step closer to the eradication of this deadly disease, the virus has raised its ugly head in Australia. Earlier this month, a 22-year-old Pakistani student became the first confirmed Australian case of polio in 21 years. Tests showed the man, who arrived on a Thai Airways flight from Bangkok carrying 249 passengers, was carrying a strain of polio similar to types circulating in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province, one of that country's last remaining polio-infected areas. The man remained in isolation in a Melbourne hospital this week pending the result of tests. All but three passengers contacted by Victorian health authorities accepted a booster polio shot, but 29 passengers could not be contacted. Their details were passed on to the federal health department, which traced some more of these last passengers. But the department this week said it was ceasing attempts to contact the last 15 passengers, whose details on passenger landing cards were inaccurate or unreadable, because the risk of infection was low. "This case means polio is only a plane trip away from Australia," says Mary Westbrook, a conjoint associate professor in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of NSW. "It is a worry, because there is a pool of unvaccinated people in (Australia). In fact, a large part of the non-vaccinated children are in the more affluent areas of the state." International travel between countries with endemic polio presents the greatest risk of spread of polio to non-immunised populations in polio-free countries. In 1988, polio paralysed more than 350,000 children in more than 125 endemic countries. That year, the World Health Assembly adopted a resolution to eradicate this ancient scourge -- it marked the launch of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. Former WHO director-general Gro Harlem Brundtland said until the world stopped transmission of polio in remaining infected countries, "children everywhere will remain at risk of contracting this disease". The initiative -- the world's largest public health campaign -- has achieved massive progress, although some of the gains have slipped. Polio remains endemic in four countries -- Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Nigeria -- with fewer than 300 wild polio virus cases reported from them in 2007. But some countries where polio was previously eradicated have recorded renewed outbreaks. Besides cases reported from endemic countries, the re-infected countries -- Angola, Myanmar, Chad, the Congo, Niger and Somalia -- have also reported polio cases this year, showing the re-infection threat is very real. As Dr Kenneth Collins, co-ordinator of Rotary's polio program, says, the reinfection risk is very real. "We are advocating all children in Australia need to be immunised because we face the threat of polio being brought into the country by international travellers," he says. Australia moved to the injectable Salk vaccine in 2005 because of the potential danger of vaccine-associated paralytic polio, which affects approximately one in 2.4 million recipients of the alternative oral vaccine. Polio vaccine is funded for children under the national immunisation Program, and is administered at two, four and six months with a booster at four years. Data from the Australian Childhood Immunisation Register on June 30 shows that 91.8 per cent of children aged from 12 to 15 months, and 95.1 per cent of children aged 24-27 months have received their polio vaccinations. In 2007-08, the Govern-Government is providing $45 million for polio vaccines. Booster vaccine doses are recommended for adults and health care workers, if at risk, and for travellers visiting polio endemic countries. "There are three types of polio and having one type does not, unfortunately, make us immune from the other two types," says Mary-Ann Liethof of ParaQuad Victoria. "Fortunately, the vaccine immunises against all three types, so it is the only way we can ensure we are fully protected." Many of the 40,000 ill Australians who survived the polio epidemics of the 20th century are facing of new disabilities. While they initially recovered and made the most of life with disability, today they are battling with profound fatigue, increasing muscle weakness, joint and muscle pain, increased sensitivity to cold temperatures and sleeping, breathing or swallowing difficulties and frequent falls -- all linked to late effects of polio. Most doctors are not trained to recognise late effects of polio or the post-polio syndrome (PPS), or are reluctant to treat it as a new condition. The main advocates for increased medical and government attention to PPS have been the support groups for polio survivors. Merle Thompson, who had polio at 15 months of age on the first Anzac Day after World War II (April 25, 1946), is the vice-president of the NSW Post-Polio Network. She has produced a research report that shows that the interval between the initial polio illness and the onset of the late effects of polio is between 30 and 40 years. According to the report findings, more than 80 per cent of participants in the polio group rely on at least one appliance, and 12 per cent use at least six appliances. Many have found their need to use aids has increased, particularly for mobility. A cure for polio is still a cherished dream. With stringent preventive measures and vaccination drives, governments across the world also need to invest in medical and health care for ageing polio patients. Post Polio Network (NSW) Australia http://www.post-polionetwork.org.au/index2.html ParaQuad Victoria http://www.paraquad.asnau/index.php?page=polio-info

Congratulations

To Johnnie and Joanie (Marks) on their 38th Wedding Anniversary!

Jonas Salk

Dr Jonas Salk was the oldest of three sons born to Dora and Daniel B. Salk in New York City on October 28, 1914. An exceptional student, he graduated from Townsend Harris High School, the school for the talented and gifted, and worked his way through City College. He received his medical degree from the College of Medicine at New York University in June 1939. In 1942, he went to the University of Michigan, where he developed an influenza vaccine to destroy the polio viruses.

Salk worked to develop vaccines that killed each of the three types of polio viruses. After injecting small groups of people, Salk announced in October 1953 that he had injected 600 people with the vaccine. This experimental group would determine the safety of the new vaccine. The next month, the National Foundation of Infantile Paralysis announced it was making plans for large scale testing of Salk's vaccine.

During the next year more than a million children received three injections for the three types of viruses. Salk also injected himself, his wife and children. The testing proved that this was the first answer in combating polio. The new vaccine, however, had one drawback: booster injections had to be given periodically. Dr. Jonas Salk died on June 23, 1995

Albert Bruce Sabin

Sabin was born in Bialystok, Poland, on August 26, 1906, one of four children of Tillie and Jacob Sabin. The family came to America in 1921, settling in Paterson, New Jersey, where Sabin's father was in the silk and manufacturing business. Early in his career, Sabin, who received his medical degree from New York University in 1931, became interested in polio. Many of his experiments on polio virus research were reported to the National Foundation of Infantile Paralysis.

During World War II, he served in the U.S. Army Medical Corps, where he was involved with the development of a vaccine against dengue fever and the successful vaccination of 65,000 military personnel against the Japanese type of polio.

After the war, Sabin continued his research on polio. He developed a vaccine that used live virus; Salk's vaccine used dead virus. Salk's new vaccine had one drawback: booster injections had to be given periodically. Sabin, meanwhile, had been conducting experiments on obtaining a live polio virus pill to be taken orally since 1952. In 1955, he conducted experiments with prisoners who had volunteered.

Sabin and his associates took the oral live viruses before conducting experiments on select groups of people form 1955 to 1957. During this period, Salk's vaccine was in use, but many virologists throughout the world believed Sabin had a superior vaccine.

From 1957 to 1959, the U.S.S.R. and the other Eastern Bloc nations gave the oral vaccine, with its advantages of oral administration and long-term immunity, to millions of children and adults. Finally, Sabin's vaccine was used in the United States. Sabin died on March 3, 1993.

The Vaccine Thing

Eddie Bollenbach writes...... A lot of people with polio don't understand the vaccine thing. A while back I had the displeasure to write an individual at the bequest of another individual who was concerned about false information being dispensed on the Internet about Polio Vaccine. At the time, due to ideology rather than science, this misinformation person was berating the World Health Organization for its attempts to bring a polio epidemic in Africa under control. There were calls by him and others for the WHO to use Salk because Sabin could produce polio (in about 1 in 2.5 million cases). Sabin oral live vaccine produces an immune reaction in the lymphatic tissue of the small intestine which effectively acts as a barrier to polio passing through the gut. If the virus cannot get into and out of an individual it cannot infect anyone in the population. Salk, on the other hand, produces a strong immunity in the blood, protecting the individual from acquiring paralytic polio. In an epidemic, those vaccinated with Salk can take in and eliminate wild polio virus in feces. Salk cannot be counted on to stop an epidemic in a population. On the other hand Sabin can. Once immunized with Sabin an individual does not multiply and pass on the virus.

A couple of years ago I wrote the CDC and asked them to consider using only Salk in this country. I believe I was right about this. The CDC, because of similar requests and data from many Public Health specialists, subsequently recommended the elimination of Salk, for the first vaccination, in the US. But many of the ideologues are bothering the WHO's attack on polio in Africa and Asia, dumbly writing to them to suspend use of the Salk vaccine. I sometimes wonder if we would still have small epidemics of polio in America without the benefit of Sabin. It is entirely possible. If you stop a microbe's entrance and exit it will not infect anyone else in a population. Sabin is the epidemic killer while Salk protects the individual.

Hehehe Corner

I went into MacDonald's yesterday and said "I'd like some fries". The girl at the counter said "Would you like some fries with that". ~ Jay Leno

Sabin vs Salk - Which is the Better Vaccine?

On a Sunday in the early 1960s the doors to the cafeteria of a Junior High in Springfield, PA were unlocked, and long lines of residents queued to enter a large room, not normally used on a weekend. What was it that brought all those people to that public school?

Those people had come tfor a free distribution of sugar cube's that contained the Sabin polio vaccine. Some of those in the line that day had received a vaccination in the mid 1950s. That injection had given those receiving it a dose of the Salk polio vaccine. The story of those two different vaccines reveals much about the progress of pharmaceutical research during the 1950s and the 1960s.

As Jonas Salk pursued his search for a live virus vaccine against polio, the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis introduced a campaign called "March of Dimes". That campaign represented an effort to eradicate polio, and to accumulate funds for support of Salk's research. That campaign asked the public to donate only coins. Yet that campaign enjoyed such success that the Foundation acquired more money for polio than the total then contributed to support research on either heart disease or cancer.

Salk grew the virus for his vaccine in monkey kidney cells. He used the new cell culture techniques that had been developed by John Enders, Thomas Weller and Frederick Robbins. Salk tested his vaccine using clinical trials with increasingly larger groups of test subjects. Finally on April 12, 1955 the press reported that Salk had achieved success, the creation of a killed-virus vaccine against polio.

The public reacted. Some people observed a moment of silence, some rang bells, some honked horns; others individuals drank toasts, hugged children or attended special church services. But... the public jubilation turned to public concern during the first month of the vaccine's use.

A mistake in production had allowed the release of some vaccine containing particles of the live virus. A special Surveillance Unit tracked down the contaminated lot and orchestrated its immediate withdrawal. Unfortunately, 260 patients had already received injections of the contaminated vaccine.

The production failure, although not a disaster, underlined the advantages of a live virus vaccine. Albert Sabin was then working on such a vaccine. The live-virus vaccine had one big disadvantage, it could not be used by people whose immune systems were compromised. Still, the live-virus vaccine, which was administered orally, had two big advantages, it provided a longer-lasting protection, and it prevented gastrointestinal reinfection, an occurrence that could create a latent reservoir of polio virus.

Even today, during efforts to provide people in developing countries with a polio vaccine, health officials must chose between the Salk and the Sabin vaccine. Their concerns mirror those of health officials in the United States during the 50s and the 60s.

Studies Cast Doubt on Polio Origin

New studies have cast more doubt on the idea that AIDS arose because an oral polio vaccine was contaminated with a precursor to the AIDS virus.

For years, there has been speculation that the polio vaccine was grown in chimpanzee kidney cell cultures that carried the precursor virus. The virus was then passed to people when the vaccine was administered in Africa in the late 1950s, the theory holds.

But in the April 26 issue of the journal Nature, British and Swedish scientists report that they found no chimp DNA in a stock of early polio vaccine used in Africa in the 1950s, challenging the hypothesized use of chimp cells.

And an evolutionary analysis of HIV strains in the Congo, reported by British and French scientists, indicates they trace back to a common ancestor that infected people rather than chimps. That argues against the idea that the strains began diversifying in chimps, followed by several transfers to people by way of polio vaccinations.

The new reports follow up on two lines of experimental results that cast doubt on the AIDS-polio theory last year.

Those tests of early polio vaccine stocks used in the African program also found no sign of chimp DNA, scientists reported at the time. And an analysis of the evolutionary tree of HIV, the AIDS virus, suggested the human virus appeared around 1930, well before the polio vaccine campaign.

European Polio Union (EPU) Takes Polio Survivors' Case to Brussels

(from Barbara Gratzke)

In 2004, the PPSG together with Support Groups from six other countries met in Brussels and formed the European Polio Union. This number has now grown to eleven with 10 EU member states (Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, United Kingdom) and Switzerland. Its vision and goal being of a Europe where people with polio and Post Polio Syndrome have all the resources they need to lead full active, independent lives and of a world where polio is completely eradicated.

In March 2007, the PPSG Chair, Hugh Hamilton, attended a pan European Conference on Polio at Lake Como. Attended by medical experts and support groups it saw European Polio Union (EPU) decide to take the Polio Survivors' case to the heart of the EU. On the morning of October 17th, the EPU is to hold a conference hosted by Umberto Guiodoni M.E.P. in the European Parliament Building in Brussels (exact time and venue will be given later). It will comprise M.E.P.'s, press, and at least two polio experts (provisionally the well known Doctors Borg and Nollet) talking on the importance of working together at a European level. The PPSG Chairman said, "I would encourage all those who can attend to go over to Brussels and make the voice of the Polio Survivor heard". Further details can be obtained from the PPSG office on 01 889 8920. Further information on the European Polio Union can be found on the EPU Web site.

The rally was followed by a meeting in the European Parliament on the 17th October 2007. The meeting took place in the conference hall. In attendance there were members of the European Polio Union, Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) and health professionals.

Leaders in their field of Post Polio research, Professor Kristian Borg from the Karolinska Institute and Professor Frans Nollet from the University of Amsterdam, talked about post polio syndrome and stress the need to work together on a European level.

Graham Ball, Chief Executive of the British Polio Fellowship said, "Whilst polio has been eradicated in most of Europe there are approximately one million people living in the EU with the effects of polio and post polio syndrome. These people need a tremendous amount of help and support, most are severely disabled and post polio syndrome is making their plight even worse."

The EPU is calling upon the European Parliament to ensure that post polio syndrome is correctly acknowledged in all member states and that significant resources are put into its research, treatment and information requirements.

Hehehe Corner

The only difference between Man and Superman is that Superman wears his underpants over his trousers.

Having Trouble Getting Out Of Bed?

Maybe this will help? Perhaps it would be better if you fitted two of these bed aids, one for each arm to press on?

If you think that they might be of help to you, go to the web site for details.

A Comparison of Symptoms between Swedish and American Post-Polio Individuals

and assessment of lower limb strength--a four-year cohort study.

Agre JC, Grimby G, Rodriquez AA, Einarsson G, Swiggum ER, Franke TM. Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, University of Wisconsin-Madison Medical School, USA.

A cohort study with initial and 4-year follow-up evaluations was performed in 78 post-polio volunteers aged 34-65 years at the time of enrolment in the study, which was made to compare post-polio individuals living in Sweden and the United States, to determine whether lower limb musculature becomes weaker over time, and to determine whether individuals with complaints of post-polio syndrome, new weakness, fatigue, walking or stair climbing difficulty were weaker or lost more strength over a 4-year interval than those individuals without such complaints. Dynametrically-measured knee extensor and flexor strength and questionnaire data were obtained initially and 4 years later. The two cohorts were fairly similar, though they differed in weight gain. The Americans gained significantly (p < 0.05) more weight than the Swedish subjects. Both groups lost significant (p < 0.05) knee extensor strength (approximately 8%), but the loss was not significantly (p < 0.05) different between the groups. Knee flexor strength did not change significantly (p < 0.05) over time. Subjects acknowledging new strength loss were not significantly (p < 0.05) weaker than those denying strength loss; however, they lost significantly (p < 0.05) more isometric knee extensor strength than the other individuals. Subjects acknowledging new fatigue, walking or stair climbing difficulty were significantly (p < 0.05) weaker in both muscle groups than those without such complaints. Subjects acknowledging post-polio syndrome were significantly (p < 0.05) weaker than those denying this symptom, but the amount of loss of strength over time was not significantly (p < 0.05) different. We conclude that the two cohorts were quite similar. Knee extensor strength decreased during the study interval. Individuals acknowledging post-polio syndrome had weaker knee extensor musculature. Subjects with new fatigue, walking difficulty, or stair climbing difficulty were weaker in both the knee extensors and the knee flexors than the other subjects. Subjects reporting new muscle weakness also had a greater decline in isometric knee extensor strength during the study interval than those without such complaint.

Brain Imaging: A Technological Breakthrough in the Assessment of Pain

by Milan Stojanovic November 4, 2006

In the early nineteenth century, physicians treating pneumonia did not recognize its cause (germs) and so did not know how to provide appropriate treatment. Two hundred years later, physicians treating chronic pain are in pretty much the same boat. Often, they are unable to identify the cause of pain and so are limited in their understanding of how to treat it. Although there are many treatments available for chronic pain, they do not always offer complete relief and, for some, relief appears to be unavailable.

Until recently, a major stumbling block was the unavailability of a "test" for pain. There is, however, a new research tool that seems to be shedding some light on the origins of pain. It is called functional brain imaging.

Functional brain imaging makes use of two recently-discovered technologies: positron emission tomography (PET) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Both methods work by measuring blood flow through the brain. The fMRI resembles the regular magnetic resonance imaging picture of the brain's anatomy, except that areas of the brain that are active during the experience of pain are seen as small red islands on an otherwise gray, detailed picture of the brain. While the fMRI looks at brain anatomy, PET looks at metabolic activity within the brain. Using these technologies in combination, researchers are now able to identify the exact parts of the brain involved in the experience of pain.

Through functional brain imaging, researchers have discovered that the brain reacts differently in people with chronic pain, when compared with "pain-free" individuals. Moreover, in different kinds of chronic pain, the fMRI and PET brain pictures can vary. This is particularly important, since different kinds of pain tend to respond to different medical treatments. These findings can help medical researchers to use functional brain imaging to tailor drug treatments to specific kinds of chronic pain.

Although still in its infancy, in the near future brain imaging may become the "test for pain." Its use can greatly benefit the many people who suffer from chronic pain and, by providing hope for treatment, the depression that often accompanies it.

The National Institute of Rehabilitation (INR) (First PPS Clinic In Mexico)

The National Institute of Rehabilitation (INR) reported through the Association Post Polio Litaff AC (APPLAC), which since May 2008 came into office as the Comprehensive Care Clinic in Post Polio Syndrome, offering care for people with polio as well as those with PPS.

To be seen at the clinic, interested parties should request an appointment at the Institute with Dr. Castillo or Dr. Teresa baths, telephones 5999 1000 ext. 11125 and 13 115, identifying him or herself as a patient with PPS. It is not necessary to have a clinical record.

The cost of each consultation by a socio-economic study, which method also applies to all services offered by the INR in Mexico City. Anyone who is already a patient at the Institute need only to produce their identity card and make an appointment by telephone.

This clinic was established solely through the efforts of Liliana Marasco Garrido, President of APPLAC and herself a survivor of polio and later, PPS. Liliana has spent four years convincing the highest authorities of the need for a centerof specialized care for polio survivors, particularly those with progressive loss of mobility through PPS.

There were several major epidemics of poliomyelitis in Mexico during the 1940's and 1950's resulting in many adult polio survivors of between 50 and 60 years of age who have not been definitely diagnosed with PPS and who were not receiving proper care. Their counterparts in the U.S. have been receiving suitable care for decades, but this has not been the case in Mexico until this clinic was established. As a result of this Clinic, the Mexican public health system finally has the ability to establish those affected persons at an early stage and to begin producing meaningful statistics.

PPS is a condition that may affect polio survivors at any time between 10 and 40 years after the initial attack of polio. It is characterized by a progressive weakening of muscles that were previously damaged by polio. Additional symptoms include profound fatigue, muscular and joint pain and muscular atrophy. Some polio survivors may experience only minor symptoms whilst others might well present with major weaknesses. The extent of the effect of PPS seems to depend on the severity of the initial polio attack. Often, those who had a minor attack of polio will, in all likelihood, develop only mild PPS whilst those who suffered major paralysis during the first attack might well develop a much more acute attack of PPS resulting in greater loss of muscle function, difficulty in swallowing as well as greater fatigue.

Hehehe Corner

The Greatest Baseball Story Ever

In 1937, Lou Gehrig, the outstanding first baseman of the New York Yankees, was asked to go to the Children's Hospital in Chicago, while there to play the White Sox, and visit the children there, particularly a boy with polio.

Tim, ten years old, had refused to try therapy to get well. Lou was his hero, and Tim's parents hoped that Lou would visit Tim and urge him to try the therapy. Tim was amazed to meet his hero. Lou told Tim, "I want you to get well. Go to therapy and learn to walk again."

Tim said, "Lou, if you will knock a home run for me today, I will learn to walk again." Lou promised. All the way to the ballpark, Lou felt a deep sense of obligation and even apprehension that he would not be able to deliver his promise that day.

Lou didn't knock one home run that day. He knocked two.

Two years later, when Lou Gehrig was dying with the dreaded muscular disease that to this day bears his name, on July 4, 1939, they celebrated Lou Gehrig Day at Yankee Stadium. Eighty thousand fans, the governor, the mayor, and many other celebrities paid their respects. Lou was one of America's great heroes.

Just before the mike was turned over to Lou to respond, Tim, by this time twelve years old, walked out of the dugout on his crutches and with leg braces, walked to home plate to hug Lou around the waist.

That's what Lou Gehrig meant when he exclaimed those immortal words: "Today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth."

Post Polio Health International Conference

Warm Springs GA - April 23 - 25 2009

Yes, this is a picture of "The Little White House" in Warm Springs GA where Franklin Delano Roosevelt stayed when he visited Warm Springs.

You will be able to see it for yourself when you attend the Conference hosted by the Post Polio Health International from April 23-25, 2009

The extensive Conference will provide polio survivors tools to live well with the Late Effects of Polio; offer a forum for the exchange of ideas among survivors, families and health care professionals; and explore the history and the legacy of the polio epidemics and its survivors. The Conference is scheduled to begin at 1.00 pm on Thursday, April 23, 2009. The final educational session will end at 4.00 pm on Saturday, April 25, 2009, but there will be a social event on Saturday evening.

Hotel Accommodation will vary in cost and luxury. We will notify you as soon as the details are finalized.

YOU CANNOT AFFORD TO MISS THIS!!!!!