2024-05-05 16:17:43
Polio, or poliomyelitis, is an infectious disease that can cause irreversible paralysis. The special feature of the disease comes from its onset, which can be late. A person can suffer from post-polio syndrome which appears on average thirty-five years following infection.
1500 polio pour la polio
On the occasion of the eighty-fifth year of ASPR, a gathering took place at Place Python to discuss with those concerned. In this context, the municipality 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 of the disease so that we do not abandon the mandatory vaccine, the only current way to protect ourselves from the disease. Although 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 fight 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 strongly affected by a virus that was infected at least thirty years ago. Christian Feldhausen, marketing and communications manager for the association, explains: “With age, mobility problems worsen. A large proportion of people who experienced the last epidemics in Switzerland are now in their seventies, eighties or even nineties. years old, they often need physiotherapy, home care It’s regarding adapting to this new life with possible paralysis.
In the canton, several people have been affected by the disease. Among them, Barbara Mouron, a nonagenarian from Fribourg, has lived her whole life with the disease. Today she describes herself as a fighter, lucky to be where she is today.
Global commitment
Poliomyelitis has not been completely eradicated on a global scale, but the number of cases has decreased 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 remains in areas where it had been eliminated. For more information
Radio Fr. – Timothy Montavon / Camille Berset
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#Polio #awareness #Fribourg
