The survivors of a forgotten pandemicpolio, which devastated thousands of families in the middle of the 20th century today claim actions of repair. Many children did not have access to the vaccine in those years, and others received doses that were in poor condition. It is the case of Carmen Lucena, native of Espejo (Córdoba) and member of the Association Acopypos: “I contracted polio when I was eleven months old, I started showing symptoms a few days after I received the vaccine. It was in 1963, the first year in which the health authorities established the vaccine in Spain. vaccination for the entire of the child population”.
Pedro Varo (Seville) never walked due to the polio virus, which has caused 37 surgeries and a lot of suffering since he was three months old. It is also the case Carlos María Vázquez (Seville)who names his mother at the beginning of his story: “My mother taught me to work twice as hard as the rest of the children, to prove my worth to others who do not suffer from disabilities.” Father of five childrenCarlos María’s tireless efforts have allowed him to prosper in his professional career as a teacher.
Other polio child es José Andrés Salazar (Málaga)member of the Amapyp Association and retired doctor: “40 years after contracting polio, many of us suffer from Post-Polio Syndrome (PPS), which produces fatigue, loss of strength, difficulty swallowing, apnea, exhaustedpain… It is a disease that many doctors are unaware. “More training of health personnel is necessary so that they can treat us properly.”
Carmen Lucena (Córdoba)
“There are many cases in which there is no clinical history to prove it, which makes it impossible, for example, to access retirement with the benefits established by law in the case of people affected by polio or registration in public registries. of affected”
Carmen, Pedro, Carlos Mª and José Andrés are polio children that give voice to the Andalusians who did not access the vaccine, who suffered the infection and who today demand: that research be promoted to clarify the expansion of the epidemic of the 1950s; and health and social measures in favor of affected people that enable their quality of life, as established by the Ley 20/2022 (Democratic Memory).
For eight years without polio vaccines in Spain, “thousands of children died and many thousands more were left with permanent paralytic consequences with which we had to learn to live,” those affected recalled in the Manifesto of the International Day against Polio and Post-polio Syndromewhich is celebrated every October 24.
Loss of opportunity
The first vaccination campaign against the polio virus was delayed in Spain until 1963. Eight years earlier (1955) children in Europe had already begun to receive the vaccine en masse and free of charge. Today, mass vaccination in childhood continues to be the main health strategy against a very contagious virus that can cause death, paralysis and severe complications.
The lack of records prevents us from knowing exactly, as of today, the impact of the polio virus. Another of the survivors’ demands is the creation of a National Registry of Persons Affected by Poliomyelitis and Post-Poliomyelitis Syndrome. It is estimated that 40,000 people are affected in Spain.
Raquel Barbosa, rehabilitation doctor (Macarena Hospital)
“We owe them that social and health right, which they request, specialized and quality global medical and health care”
“Our health deteriorates prematurely due to late effects of polio and the subsequent appearance of post-polio syndrome, neurological pathologydegenerative and progressive, without pharmacological response and whose only treatment recommended today is comprehensive neuro-rehabilitation which is not offered in Spain, in addition to technical and orthoprosthetic aids”, asserts Carlos Mª Vázquez, secretary of the Alliance for Polio and Postpolio in Andalusia.
Victims of oblivion
“I have suffered the effects of polio since I was three months old. In those years (1949) they said that this infection was overcome like the flu. Many children died. There was great ignorance and many children were subjected to interventions that are prohibited today,” Pedro Varopresident of the Alliance for Polio and Postpolio in Andalusia.
The strength that only those who have overcome the worst of adversities It is reflected in the look of Pedro Varo. His body has undergone 37 surgical interventions. Of all of them he remembers in particular a treatment that kept him on a “bed psychoelectric eight months and one day. So they tried to stretch my spine when the deviation began to cause serious breathing problems,” Pedro recalls, pointing to his forehead where the signs of the “screws” that kept him anchored to the bed.
50s, 20th century: Health for charity
The Hospital Order of San Juan de Dios began the activity of its hospitals in Seville and Córdoba dedicated to caring for children with poliomyelitis, in response to the uncovered needs of the most vulnerable population. In Granada, the Order does the same at the San Rafael Hospital; and in Jerez de la Frontera (Cádiz), at the San Juan Grande Hospital. These four hospitals in San Juan de Dios in Andalusia were dedicated to the treatment of these children, whose care became residential, since many of them had to spend years in bed. For this reason, they also had teachers, who gave the little patients formal education in the hospital facilities, so that they did not lose the school rhythm. All of this was possible thanks to the Social Work of San Juan de Dios, which at that time was supported by alms.
Prolonged admissions, continuous interventions and severe health problems prevented polio children from accessing standardized training complicating their work, economic and social future. Now many of them at an advanced age suffer from situations marked by precariousness.
“It is necessary to have free state-of-the-art prostheses and electric mobility chairs for a group in which only a very small percentage has been able to develop a normal professional life, and in which the majority They couldn’t even join the workforce.; Therefore, the latter have a very low purchasing power and their pensions should be at least equal to the minimum wage for make their lives easier in the final stretch given that They contracted a disease due to negligence by the State Spanish, of the dictatorship”, they explain.
The Andalusian Alliance of associations that represent those affected demand speed in disability recognition and improvements in pensions that guarantee quality of life. “Many we need another person to perform basic functions and being able to maintain an independent life with the help and support for dependency that has not yet arrived, the procedures take forever…” adds Varo.
In ‘debt’ to those affected
Despite medical advances, those affected by polio and post-polio feel neglected: “we need more training in medicine so that primary care physicians can understand and treat our problems. We suffer a lot of pain and complications,” adds Varlo. They also ask for at least a specialized unit by province for comprehensive assistance in hospitals.
“Most doctors today lack the knowledge to manage our complications because they have never dealt with polio and now they are with people who suffer from late effects and PPS,” recalls the spokesperson.
Raquel Barbosa, rehabilitation doctor: “We have an outstanding debt with those affected by polio”
–What does the polio virus cause in childhood and years later, in old age?
–Poliomyelitis is a neurodegenerative disease. The polio virus causes the initial death of motor neurons, in the acute phase. The infection, which affects children, can cause paralysis and even death. After this acute phase, throughout life, the motor neurons that survive the infection become exhausted in a much more pronounced way because in addition to carrying out their own functions, they also assume the functions of the motor neurons that have died from the virus. . Over time, when patients who have overcome polio in childhood reach 50-60 years of age, they suffer much more severe neuromotor aging.
–What is Post-Polio?
–It is a disease different from polio that was recognized as a clinical entity since the 1980s. The WHO recognized Post-Polio Syndrome as a disease in 2010. Its symptoms include: fatigue, muscle weakness, pain, cold intolerance, dyspnea or respiratory failure, dysphonia and dysphagia, and other complications.
–Are there risks of outbreaks?
–The vaccine has eradicated this disease in our environment, but there are outbreaks or it may reappear because the vaccine has not eradicated the disease in other parts of the world: the polio virus still exists, and in many developing countries where The health conditions of the water are not adequate, polio infections continue to exist.
–Is the vaccine still the only effective tool?
–To this day the vaccine continues to be the only tool we have for acute infection in these countries as well as in ours, which fortunately is absolutely normal within the vaccination schedule, something to which, unfortunately, patients who today have SPP they could not opt at their time. That is why we at least owe them that social and health right, which they request, specialized and quality global medical and health care, when it is now that they once again see all spheres of their lives totally affected in such a crucial way. I hope so.
2023-10-29 06:03:57
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