Polio, or poliomyelitis, is an infectious disease that can cause irreversible paralysis. The particularity of the disease comes from its onset which can be late. An individual can suffer from post-polio syndrome which appears on average thirty-five years after infection.
1,500 polios for polio
On the occasion of the eighty-fifth year of the ASPR, a gathering took place at Place Python to discuss with the people concerned. In this context, the City of Friborg purchased 1,500 tulips from the Rotary association, which launched the Polio tulip campaign. Each tulip of this variety sold allows one hundred and thirty children to be vaccinated.
The Association aims to raise awareness about the disease so that we do not abandon the compulsory vaccine, the only current means of protecting ourselves against the disease. Even if no cases have been reported since 1982, Switzerland is not immune to seeing new cases emerge. The symptoms of the virus often go unnoticed so that migration inadvertently brings it back to Switzerland. While 95% of the population would be enough to effectively combat the disease, the Appenzell region, for example, has a vaccination rate of around 70%.
In Switzerland, several thousand polio survivors live with paralysis. A daily life greatly impacted by a virus contracted at least thirty years ago. Christian Feldhausen, head of marketing and communications for the association, explains: “With age, mobility problems worsen. A large proportion of people who experienced the latest epidemics in Switzerland are now in their seventies, eighties or even nineties. years old, they often need physiotherapy, home care It’s about adapting to this new life with possible paralysis.
In the canton, several have been affected by the disease. Among them, Barbara Mouron, a nonagenarian from Friborg, has lived her entire life with the disease. Today, she describes herself as a fighter, lucky to be where she is today.
Global involvement
Poliomyelitis has not been completely eradicated globally, but the number of cases has declined significantly since the 1990s. While there were 350,000 cases worldwide in 1988, there are now only a few endemic countries in October 2023 including Pakistan and Afghanistan. However, as long as the virus is not completely eradicated, the risk of resurgence of the virus in areas where it had been eliminated remains. For more information
RadioFr. – Timothy Montavon / Camille Berset
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