There are few diseases that have caused as much discussion and as much fear as polio. In fact, the fear of polio is all out of proportion to the damage it causes.

Polio is the nickname for infantile paralysis, or acute anterior poliomyelitis. It occurs in epidemics but some is present all the time. Though it most often attacks children, anybody can catch it Of the great numbers of people who catch polio, few are seriously affected.

The most common type of polio gives a day or two of illness, head ache, fever, sore throat, and upset stomach, but no paralysis There are at least 100 of these cases to every 1 that the doctor can diagnose as serious polio. Among diagnosed cases of polio half of the patients recover completely, 30 per cent have mild after-effects, 14 per cent have more severe paralysis and 6 per cent may die. There is only one chance in 156 of a child contracting polio in the first 20 years of his life.

Polio is caused by three different viruses. A virus is a disease-causing organism so small that it can pass through a filter which stops bacteria. A virus must live in a living cell. When polio virus enters the body, it travels along nerves and in the blood to the spinal cord and brain. There it grows in cells in the gray matter of the spinal cord.

When these nerve cells are swollen and sick, the muscles they control cannot operate. They are paralyzed. If the nerves recover, the muscles can move again. But if the nerve cells are killed by the virus, the muscle cells connected to these nerves are paralyzed forever.

There are several kinds of polio, depending on what part of the body is infected. Spinal polio affects the nerves in the spinal cord. Bulbar polio affects a part of the brain and may paralyze the breathing muscles. Many lives have been saved by the “iron lung,” which mechanically performs the act of breathing for such a victim.

Today there is every hope that the menace of polio can be wiped out. Dr. Jonas Salk has developed an anti-polio vaccine which millions of people have used to protect them against polio infection. This has been one of the greatest medical advances in many years, and has brought new hope of health and safety to the world.