Free Republic

For decades, the United States has worked with the World Health Organization and others to quash polio, beating back to near extinction a merciless disease that once paralyzed hundreds of thousands of children each year. That progress is in danger as the pandemic forces health-care providers to suspend door-to-door vaccination campaigns that have slashed the number of infections. New cases have emerged in ­Niger and Chad, and fears have mounted about a resurgence in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Although the number of new polio infections has been small — 155 confirmed cases since January — even blips are worrisome, public health...

There had been epidemics in New York before cholera, typhoid and pneumonia all had swept the city but this was like nothing else. It mainly attacked children, with no apparent source or pattern, and its effects were dreadful. After the first mild symptoms headache, slight fever the little ones were suddenly unable to move. Doctors called it poliomyelitis, but most people knew it as infantile paralysis, and the popular term for it was "The Crippler." It was nothing new, but the world's first major epidemic of it occurred in New York City in the summer of 1916, and it struck...

“Vaccines, for Bill Gates, are a strategic philanthropy that feed his many vaccine-related businesses (including Microsoft’s ambition to control a global vac ID enterprise) and give him dictatorial control over global health policy—the spear tip of corporate neo-imperialism. Gates’ obsession with vaccines seems fueled by a messianic conviction that he is ordained to save the world with technology and a god-like willingness to experiment with the lives of lesser humans. Promising to eradicate Polio with $1.2 billion, Gates took control of India ‘s National Advisory Board (NAB) and mandated 50 polio vaccines (up from 5) to every child before age...

FEB. 25, 2015 April 12, 2015 will be the 60th anniversary of the announcement of the Salk vaccine’s ability to prevent polio. Had it been available at your local CVS like flu shots are today, they would have had to call out the National Guard to handle the stampede. In the early 1950s, there was no diagnosis more terrifying to parents than polio. In the 1952 epidemic, nearly 58,000 cases were reported, 3,145 people died and 21,269 were left with varying degrees of paralysis. There wasn’t a parent in America who would have requested a “personal belief waiver” to exempt...

Among the members of Biden's 'Public Health Advisory Committee' is Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, who had been a top healthcare adviser to President Obama and was a central character in the Obama-Biden administration's Obamacare push. . . . 'The campaign’s top priority is and will continue to be the health and safety of the public,' a release from the campaign said. 'Members of the committee will provide ongoing counsel to the campaign, which will in turn continue to update the public regarding operational decisions.' The announcements on Wednesday come a day after the coronavirus outbreak started truly impacting the 2020 campaign.

On this day [February 1] in 1887, Harvey Wilcox officially registers Hollywood with the Los Angeles County recorder’s office. Wilcox, who had lost the use of his legs as a child due to polio, envisioned the land as the perfect site for a utopian-like community for devout Christians, where they could live a highly moral life free of vices such as alcohol (Wilcox was a prohibitionist). Daeida Wilcox called the new community “Hollywood.”

As the global effort to eradicate polio gets tantalizing close to its goal, the program is running in to new challenges. One of the biggest obstacles this year is the proliferation of so-called "vaccine-derived" polio outbreaks. Conventional polio caused by the traditional form of the disease is now only occurring in two countries in the world — Afghanistan and Pakistan. The World Health Organization calls this form "wild" polio and there've been roughly 100 cases so far this year. This is a tiny number compared to the 350,000 cases that occurred globally before the Global Polio Eradication Initiative was launched...

A virus (AFM - acute flaccid myelitis) appears to be the cause behind a rash of polio-like illnesses that struck Minnesota last fall, causing paralyzing symptoms in several children, including one girl who lost all motor function and remains hospitalized. Researchers from Minnesota and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday that they found Enterovirus-D68 in the spinal fluid of one of six children who suffered acute flaccid myelitis, or AFM. The first public reports of AFM in 2018 showed up in Minnesota, which ended the year with 10 of the nation’s 228 confirmed cases. EV-D68 has...

A former aide to Hillary Clinton is sparking outrage for mocking Mitch McConnell for tripping on stairs – and not backing down when informed the Senate majority leader had polio as a child. Adam Parkhomenko, who also served as national field director for the Democratic National Committee in 2016, posted an old clip of McConnell falling onstage during a press conference. “Yesterday I posted this new found footage of Mitch McConnell standing up for America. 368,000 views overnight. Mitch McConnell does not want you to let this video get up to 1,000,000 views,” Parkhomenko wrote on Twitter on Thursday.

A polio-like illness that has mysteriously affected at least 500 people — sometimes causing paralysis — could spread across the US in the next few years, medical researchers fear. The condition, known as acute flaccid myelitis ( or AFM), has struck in at least 46 states in the last four years. More than 90 percent of those who come down with the illness are children, according to the CDC.

CNN political reporter Daniella Diaz sent a tweet on Monday pointing out that President Trump and Sen. Mitch McConnell locked hands while walking up stairs at the White House following their Rose Garden press conference. Diaz seemed to be mocking the Republican duo – but while followers quickly pointed out that the Kentucky senator is a polio survivor, the tweet remains on her feed nearly 24 hours later. “That hand-lock between Trump and McConnell, though,” Diaz wrote with video of the incident.

A U.N. humanitarian aid adviser for Syria says trucks are being prepared to ship polio vaccine into Islamic State group-held areas of Deir el-Zour governorate following confirmation of a "very dangerous" outbreak of the virus. ... He said 58 acute flaccid paralysis cases, a possible symptom of polio, had been reported in Deir el-Zour this year through June 6.

SEATTLE - A mysterious illness that hospitalized several local children has now turned deadly. A 6-year-old boy who has been treated for the disease for more than two weeks passed away Sunday night.

As of August, at least 50 people in 24 states were confirmed to have acute flaccid myelitis, a viral infection that attacks the body’s nervous system and has led to paralysis and death.... In July, the Texas Department of State Health Services issued a warning to health providers after seven incidents were reported by the end of June. There have been a total of 11 confirmed and two suspected cases of AFM in Texas to date, and five have been in Collin, Dallas, Denton and Tarrant counties, according to DSHS. The first case was reported in March, followed by two...

Before dinner on July 29, 3-year-old Carter Roberts of Chesterfield, Va., seemed perfectly healthy. That evening, he vomited. When he woke up the next morning with a slight fever of 99 degrees, his mother, Robin Roberts, figured that he was coming down with a cold. The next morning, she found him collapsed on his bedroom floor. “Mommy,” she recalls him saying. “Help me, help me.” Carter could barely stand when she picked him up, and his neck was arched backward. “What was most alarming,” she said, “is he had no control over his right arm whatsoever.” In the hospital, Carter...

On May 19th, a piece was posted on The Coach’s Team entitled The Deadliest Disease of All. One paragraph states: “It is clear that some of the illegal aliens who are sneaking into our country are bringing deadly diseases with them. Small pox, Chicken pox, measles, scabies, TB, Cholera and an assortment of other dangerous, communicable diseases can be found in the holding facilities that house these people.” One of our readers commented: "Bringing small pox"? Really? Smallpox, which has been eliminated in nature... is being brought to the US by illegal aliens. Citation needed.” A brief description of the...

Unidentified gunmen on Wednesday killed seven police officers who were guarding people conducting a polio drive in Pakistan’s largest city, Karachi. Eight attackers on four motorcycles and armed with pistols targeted two teams in different neighborhoods of the Orangi area of Karachi, police officials said, adding that the shootings happened within minutes of each other. The police officers were deployed to protect the people who were administering polio vaccination through a door-to-door campaign, government officials said The police returned fire or the death toll may have been higher, said police spokesman Qamar Zaib Satti. “These brave policemen died protecting the...

Rio Has Given Up On Its Goal To Clean Up The Water In Time For The Olympics When bidding to host the 2016 Summer Olympics, Rio de Jaineiro promised the International Olympics Committee that it would eliminate 80 percent of the sewage found in the city's notoriously filthy water, and would fully regenerate the lagoon in which rowing and kayaking events will be held. Now a few months from the start of the games, Rio has given up on keeping those promises. Outside The Lines' Bonnie Ford has a thorough examination of the current state of Rio's water pollution, and...

Formerly eradicated diseases are surging and now we have the Zika virusWhen facing the massive problems associated with an open border, deluges of illegal immigration, and now even government sponsored surges of so-called "refugees," we naturally must discuss our concern about terrorism and violent crime. That, however, is only part of the threat. The uncontrolled and chaotic violation this nation brought to us by President Obama's immigration and refugee schemes pose a number of threats to the homeland as insidious and deadly as the Islamic jihadi. Viruses we had finally eliminated from our lives are returning, and others we should...

German hospitals are increasing security to protect doctors and nurses from violent attacks by migrants who are unhappy with the medical treatment they are receiving. Critics are warning that German taxpayers will end up paying billions of euros to provide healthcare for a never-ending wave of asylum seekers. This is in addition to the billions of euros already being spent to provide newcomers with food, clothing and shelter. In addition to the massive economic and social costs, as well as the burden of increased crime, including a rape epidemic, Germans are now facing the risk of being exposed to exotic...