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How Polio Affects The Body And What WHO Is Doing To Eliminate The Potentially Deadly Disease By 2026

A global five-year plan to eradicate polio has received pledges of some US$2.6 billion (HK$20.4 billion), but nearly double the amount is needed to complete the task, the World Health Organization said last October.

While welcoming the generous pledges, the United Nations' health agency stressed there was still some way to go to eliminate the crippling and potentially fatal viral disease by 2026.

It pointed to an upsurge in cases detected this year, including in countries long considered to be free of the highly contagious and often paralysing virus, which mainly affects children under the age of five (see graphic).

"The new detections of polio this year in previously polio-free countries are a stark reminder that if we do not deliver our goal of ending polio everywhere, it may resurge globally," said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director general.

"We must remember the significant challenges we have overcome to get this far against polio, stay the course and finish the job once and for all."

The Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) is a public-private partnership that counts the WHO among its main partners. In all, it says it needs US$4.8 billion for its 2022-2026 strategy to overcome the final hurdles in eliminating the disease.

The World Health Summit in Berlin took place in October last year. During the event, countries and organisations confirmed they would cover a significant chunk of the funding needs.

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"No place is safe until polio has been eradicated everywhere," said German economic cooperation and development minister Svenja Schulze. "As long as the virus still exists somewhere in the world, it can spread."

A massive global effort has in recent decades come close to wiping out polio. Cases have decreased by 99 per cent since 1988, when the disease was endemic in 125 countries and 350,000 cases were recorded worldwide.

The wild version of polio, caused by viruses found in the environment, now exists only in Afghanistan and Pakistan, though Malawi and Mozambique also detected imported wild polio cases in 2022.

In addition, a type of vaccine that contains small amounts of weakened but live polio still causes occasional outbreaks elsewhere, as has recently happened in the United States and Britain.

Agence France-Presse

Does polio still exist in Hong Kong?

Hong Kong has been polio-free since 1983 thanks to the success of its vaccine drives which started in 1963. The drive involved free vaccine doses for children aged five and under. The last case of poliomyelitis virus was reported in 1983.

Today, the inactivated poliomyelitis vaccine (IPV) is recommended for all infants at two months, four months and six months of age. Booster jabs are administered at 18 months, six years and 12 years old to ensure they are protected from the virus.

For Area Polio Survivor, 'It's Been A Lifelong Journey'

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SAVOY — Phyllis Kemnetz's life story becomes increasingly unique as the years pass.

After all, there aren't many people still around who experienced the polio epidemic of 1952 like she did. She has the battle scars to show for it.

"It's been a lifelong journey," Kemnetz said. "Polio is a very excruciating disease because it affects the whole nervous system at the same time ... It's like your whole nervous system is on high alert at the same time."

What eventually disrupted Kemnetz's daily life as a normal high school student in Arcola — and derailed her aspirations of becoming a professional dancer — began in early September 1952.

Concerns over the spread of polio had caused many families around town to clamp down on normal activities. No more trips to the swimming pool, no more gatherings with friends.

"The parents were horrified," Kemnetz said. "Kids were dropping like flies. It came from out of nowhere. And the thing of it is, my brother slept in the same bedroom with me and he didn't get it."

In many respects, that year's polio outbreak resembled the dawn of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

"When it first started happening, I got really apprehensive because that's the way polio started," Kemnetz said. "It hit, we didn't know what it was, we didn't know where it was coming from. And we had no medication for it."

Kemnetz awoke one morning soon after the semester began with a splitting headache. A 2-mile walk to school in hot weather didn't help the situation; she was promptly sent home and worsened significantly by late afternoon.

A house call from Dr. Jack Cunningham yielded the family's worst fear. Polio, later confirmed by an excruciating spinal tap hours later at Mercy Hospital in Champaign.

An ambulance had brought her to Champaign, where Burnham Hospital's iron lungs were at capacity. Across town, she got the last one Mercy had available.

"The spinal tap was excruciating because by that time I couldn't bend," Kemnetz said. "The next memory I had was waking up on a gurney alongside an iron lung, and I didn't know what it was. I can remember begging my mother not to put me in that. I can remember screaming it at her. I was so terrified."

It's a reality Kemnetz wouldn't wish on anyone, even as the CDC has declared wild polio eliminated in the United States since 1979.

The illness still crops up in other countries; there were 12 reported cases between Afghanistan and Pakistan in 2023.

"Our public health department needs to help out, and kids going into schools, regardless of what country, need to be vaccinated," Kemnetz said. "Some of the children from other world countries haven't had the opportunity to have a vaccination, and they're coming into our schools."

About a month later, she was sent home to Arcola. But a nagging limp made it clear more recovery was needed.

A facility on Long Island in New York was one of two places in the United States that helped patients recover with an early form of physical therapy.

She spent nearly a year there — in the care of French-Canadian nuns — relearning to walk.

"That repetitious exercise that they started on me in New York reprogrammed some of the less damaged neurons in the brain to take over," Kemnetz said. "One neuron may be working two or three muscles. That works for a while until you age."

It wasn't the experience Kemnetz wanted while her friends were enjoying their normal lives. But it wasn't all doom and gloom, either.

"Elvis came on 'The Ed Sullivan Show,' and you've got a room full of 14-year-old girls who had never seen anything like that when he went through his full routine," Kemnetz said. "And we were pointing and giggling and the nuns came running out to see what we were up to and saw that and changed it to Bishop Sheen. I got up on the bed and changed it back to Elvis, but we were more quiet."

Kemnetz made what doctors called a full recovery until 1985, when she developed post-polio syndrome. It was originally misdiagnosed as Parkinson's; the afflictions can appear similar at the onset.

"It skips around your body," Kemnetz said. "Like I've got it in my hands and legs right now. Most of the days, I can't write cursive now. And I'm trying to get it back through exercise or physical therapy."

Not that Kemnetz — who went on to have two children, two grandchildren, six stepchildren and seven step-grandchildren after being told she wouldn't live past 30 — is using that as an excuse.

Aides at The Windsor of Savoy need to assist her with tasks like opening jars and cans, but she still plays euchre in the facility's library three or four times a week. It's good exercise for her hands.

With the weather warming up, her goal is to walk to her apartment balcony with her iPad and an iced tea in tow.

"I have a wonderful view of the ponds and we have a white swan that is fun to watch," Kemnetz said. "But I want to do it by myself. They don't want me walking by myself, and I can see why. But I don't do it unless I know in my head that I can finish that task."

Remaining vigilant is Kemnetz's message to the masses.

"You can't vaccinate a few here and a few there; you've got to do the whole fell swoop," Kemnetz said. "But as long as you've got a vaccination available, take it. I'm not feeling sorry for myself, but I wouldn't want anybody to go through what I have had to go through since I was 14."

Should You Get A Polio Vaccine Booster? Here's How To Decide

With a polio case reported in Rockland County, New York, adults may be wondering whether they should ... [+] get a polio vaccine booster after getting vaccinated as a child.

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Didn't think you'd have "Decide whether to get the polio vaccine booster as an adult" on your 2022 List of Things to Do, did you? After all, wasn't the U.S. Declared polio-free back in 1979 years after the polio vaccine had become part of routine childhood vaccinations? But then again, you probably didn't expect to have "Read about how the poliovirus has re-appeared again in U.S." on your 2022 list either.

Well, the re-appearance of the poliovirus in the U.S. Has many people now double-checking whether they got vaccinated against polio as a child and wondering whether they need a booster as an adult. As I covered for Forbes on August 6, an unvaccinated adult in New York has come down with paralytic polio, the first confirmed polio case in the U.S. Since 2013. Plus, wastewater samples from the state have revealed presence of the virus, meaning that others, potentially hundreds of others, have already been infected with the virus. Obviously, anything that can cause paralysis is not a good thing to have. Neither is something that can cause death, because death would kind of ruin your day. So the return of the poliovirus, which used to leave an average of over 35,000 more people each year in the U.S. Disabled, is clearly bad news.

Upon closer reflection, is this return really that much of a surprise? There's a thing called cause-and-effect in nature. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared measles eliminated from the U.S. In 2000 due to successful vaccination efforts. But then after years of some personalities, politicians, and purposely anonymous social media accounts peppering people with unscientific anti-vaccination messages, what did you think would happen? Measles vaccination rates dropped and then, guess what, the U.S. Started having measles outbreaks again over the past decade. Over the same time, polio vaccination rates have been dropping, as well, despite the vaccine having an excellent safety record and three doses of the inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) being 99% effective at preventing paralytic polio, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Lower vaccination rates has meant that the poliovirus would have more bodies to infect, sort of like offering the virus more cheap motel rooms to occupy and reproduce in, which is why the polio situation in New York is occurring now.

Adults who didn't get vaccinated against polio as a child can now get the inactivated polio vaccine ... [+] (IPV) in three doses, with the second dose coming one to two months after the first and the third dose coming six to 12 months after the second. (Photo by ED JONES/AFP via Getty Images)

AFP via Getty Images

So what should you do? If you are an infant, congratulations on you ability to read. If you can write too, you may want to leave notes to your parents in between your burping to remind them to get you your recommended vaccines, including four doses of the IPV at 2 months, 4 months, 6 through 18 months, and 4 through 6 years of age. If you are older, check with your parents to see if they got you vaccinated. If they start talking about the "Deep State" and not wanting you to become a gigantic magnet where keys and anvils stick to you forehead, you may want to track down your old vaccination records from your school or doctor to verify for yourself whether you were indeed vaccinated as a young child.

If you either can't verify this or know for sure that you didn't get vaccinated against polio, you can always get three doses of the IPV as an adult. Once you've gotten the first dose, you have to wait one to two months to get the second dose, and then another six to 12 months to get the third dose. As an adult, the IPV is as easy as one, two, three.

If you indeed got the four-dose series as child, that in theory should give you lifetime protection. It's in theory because while studies have suggested that protection can last for decades, they haven't yet specifically determined whether such protection will last lifelong for everyone. So, yes, it is possible that your protection after getting vaccinated as a child may wane a bit at some point as an adult.

That's the rationale behind the CDC's current recommendation that as an adult who was vaccinated as a child you don't need a adult booster unless you are "at increased risk of exposure to poliovirus." Now, you may ask what exactly would put you at increased risk of exposure to the poliovirus? Certainly, if you plan on going snorkeling in New York's wastewater where they recently found the poliovirus, you could be at increased risk. The same would apply if you have close contact with anyone who may be infected with the poliovirus or handle the poliovirus in any way. Therefore, it's a good idea to get boosted if you work in healthcare or a laboratory where any jar, test tube, or other container happens to have the word "polio" on it.

The polio vaccine has been licensed in the U.S. Since 1955. Here Carol Ciminelli holds a photo of ... [+] herself as a young child in one hand, and a copy of her Covid-19 vaccine card in the other hand, at her home in Amityville, New York on August 10, 2021. In 1954, Ciminelli was a "Polio Pioneer", one of a group of 6-to-8 year-olds across the nation who received a polio vaccine in a clinical trial to test the safety and efficacy of the Salk vaccine. (Photo by J. Conrad Williams, Jr./Newsday RM via Getty Images)

Newsday via Getty Images

The CDC also recommends getting a booster if "You are traveling to a country where the risk of getting polio is greater." This includes Afghanistan and Pakistan, where polio remains endemic. Of course, nowadays you may ask whether New York or other parts of the U.S. Represent a place "where the risk of getting polio is greater." This may seem tricky since the actual number and distribution of currently infected people are not known. Health departments just don't have the resources track such numbers. That's what happens when the country invests so little in public health infrastructure.

Nonetheless, right now, there's probably no need to get an adult booster unless you are a healthcare worker, a laboratory worker handling polio specimens, traveling to a country where polio is still more widespread than it is in the U.S., or otherwise may be around someone who has a good chance of being infected. At the same time, there's no real harm in getting an adult booster. Billions of people have received the IPV since it was first licensed in the U.S. On April 12, 1955. If you are on the fence about what your risk of exposure may actually be, talk to your doctor. Your doctor may tell you to go ahead and get the adult booster. This should then have you set for life against polio and offer you peace of mind. It would certainly only you to cross "decide whether to get the polio vaccine booster as an adult" off your 2022 list of things to do. And your 2023 one, your 2024 one, and so forth.

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