Polio is a crippling and potentially deadly infectious disease. It is caused by poliovirus. The virus spreads from person to person and can invade an infected person’s brain and spinal cord, causing paralysis. This may sound like a story from the 1950s when the polio epidemic became the worst outbreak in the nation’s history but, the polio virus is still active in the world.
The Manitowoc Rotary club has joined a worldwide effort to eradicate polio once and for all. Later today, the Rotary Club is bringing a display to the Manitowoc Public Library. This display, on loan from a Rotary Club in Elkhorn Wisconsin, will help raise awareness of this disease called polio.
Tony Dick of the Manitowoc Rotary club says the display will feature and artificial respirator called an “Iron Lung”. “Polio would actually cripple or paralyze people and over time, people wouldn’t be able to breathe independently,” Dick explained. “This machine kept them alive.”
While educating the public and raising awareness about the polio virus, the Manitowoc Rotary Club will be accepting donations to help vaccinate more people worldwide. And Tony Dick says there are matching funds available for this effort, with the Bill and Linda Gates Foundation donating $2 for every dollar raised.
The polio display will be at the Manitowoc Public Library today from 2 until 7 and then at the Lester Public Library on Thursday in the afternoon and evening. Everyone is welcome to see the “Iron Lung” display and make a donation to the Rotary Club.
