Local activists renew push to wipe out polio worldwide
Oct 23, 2015, 2:00 PM | Updated: 2:42 pm
The 1952 polio epidemic was the worst in the U.S., infecting more than 60,000 children. 83-year-old Diane Cohn remembers seeing two of her cousins in an iron lung similar to what is pictured above. At the time, it was the only treatment for severely affected patients who were paralyzed. (still photo from March of Dimes public service announcement, circa 1955)
(still photo from March of Dimes public service announcement, circa 1955)
Picture a summer in Seattle where you can’t go to the pool. Or the beach. Or anywhere with water.
Ahead of World Polio Day on Oct. 24, Diane Cohn remembers that’s what it was like when she was growing up, during the polio epidemic in the 1940s and 50s.
“My sister and I were fearful all the time that we were going to get it, and we would become paralyzed. Because that’s what happens: your legs become paralyzed, or your arms become paralyzed, you can’t walk,” said the 83-year-old. “The thought of seeing or being in this iron lung was traumatic.”
In 1952 alone, more than 60,000 children were infected. About 3,000 died, and over 21,000 were left paralyzed.
By 1955, a vaccine was available and widespread inoculations began. It was in 1979 the virus was completely eliminated from the United States. Today, only Afghanistan and Pakistan are endemic.
But back then, there wasn’t a cure. Two of Cohn’s cousins died at Seattle’s Providence hospital from Polio.
“Bobby was my favorite red-headed cousin that I just adored. And to see his head sticking out of this iron lung at age 14, which was [how old] I was that time, really played a very important part on my mind and my body and my head. I felt so badly because there was nothing I could do,” said Cohn.
Years later, Cohn was recruited by Rotary International to do what she couldn’t back then for her cousins: deliver the two life-saving drops of medicine that prevent polio. For decades now, she’s searched out communities from central Africa to rural Pakistan to make sure no child will ever feel the pain of polio again.
“We literally knock on doors, and hope the mothers and fathers will bring their children out so we can give them the two drops of the Salk polio vaccine,” said Cohn, referring to Doctor Jonas Salk, who discovered the vaccine and refused to patent it so it could be distributed quickly and inexpensively.
The Northwest has become the center of activism against polio, with the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation pitching into the fight. In fact, Bill Gates, Sr. has been a Rotarian for years and has helped raise millions to combat the disease.
The effort has been so successful, many believe polio could be wiped out in just three years, as long as they keep pushing.
“Polio can come back, and that’s the fear that you have,” said Cohn.
To find out more about the battle against polio, visit for the latest developments.
