The Rotary Club of Huntley highlights the importance of medical research

HUNTLEY – Attendees of Huntley’s Fall Fest may have come across the Rotary Club of Huntley and their traveling polio museum that featured a once recognizable piece of machinery that may look archaic in the present time.

Similarly, to today’s COVID-19 pandemic, back in the early 1900s a disease known as polio caused widespread panic across the U.S. and the world.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), polio outbreaks disabled an average of more than 35,000 people each year.

While 98% of people infected with the poliovirus recovered fully with no lasting effects, a small percentage of individuals suffered temporary or permanent paralysis which would sometimes result in death, according to the History of Vaccines website.

It wasn’t until 1929 that a machine first known as the Drinker respirator—later known as the iron lung—came to be used as a standard method to provide temporary, and in some cases, permanent breathing support for people suffering from polio-related paralysis of the diaphragm and intracostal muscles, said the History of Vaccines.

“Several people visiting the polio traveling museum at the Fall Fest in Huntley [the weekend of Sep. 25 and Sep. 26], had friends or relatives that lived out their entire lives living in an iron lung,” said a Sep. 29 statement from the Rotary Club. “Although the Americas have been free of polio for over 25 years, and free in Africa for a little over one year, [polio] is still alive in Afghanistan and Pakistan.”

The statement continued, “Since polio is a nerve attacking virus that is contagious, if it is not eliminated everywhere in the world, it will come back here as people travel. The iron lung helped people breathe when the virus attacked their lungs. Many people with polio functioned normally when the disease attacked ‘only’ their arms or legs.”

In 1954, the U.S. Vaccine Advisory Committee approved a massive double-blind trial of a polio vaccine created by American virologist and medical researcher Jonas Salk.

However, it wouldn’t be until 1955 in which the U.S. government would fully license the use and distribution of Salk’s vaccine.

On Sep. 29, 1994, the poliovirus was declared as being eliminated from North and South America, making the Americas the first World Health Organization (WHO) Region to meet the goal of polio elimination, according to the History of Vaccines website.

The Rotary Club of Huntley states that Rotary International will be donating $50 million per year over the next three years as part of a joint campaign from “people, countries, and corporations to finally eradicate polio.”

The club collected donations from individuals at the Huntley Fall Fest, though individuals who were not able to attend can still contribute to the organization’s mission through huntleyrotary.org.

“The Rotary Club of Huntley arranged for the iron lung exhibit and wants everyone to understand the importance of medical research, of inoculations, and of making the world a safe space for everyone since polio is only one plane ride away from coming back to us,” said a statement from the Rotary Club. “The iron lung is a great reminder that our children have been protected by the vaccine and will not have to suffer the devastating effects of polio.”