Members of the Mobile Sunrise Rotary Club gathered at their weekly meeting at the Mobile Country Club to observe World Polio Day, an annual recognition held each Oct. 24 in honor of Dr. Jonas Salk, whose birthday falls on that date. Club members split into teams for a round of Jeopardy-style trivia focused on the Rotary Foundation and its PolioPlus campaign, and guests were invited to join in the questions and conversation.
The club has set its sights on doing more next year, with members planning additional public events aimed at raising awareness and support for the fight to end polio for good.
The observance carries particular weight in Mobile, a city with its own history of the disease. In 1941, newspapers across Alabama reported widespread polio outbreaks statewide. Some who contracted the virus experienced only mild, flu-like symptoms. Others were left permanently paralyzed, and some died. At the time, there was no way to stop the virus once it took hold.
Polio attacks the nervous system and can spread through direct contact with an infected person or through contaminated food and water. For decades it had no cure and no reliable means of prevention, leaving families across the state to watch and wait each summer as outbreaks swept through communities.
That changed in 1955, when Dr. Salk developed a vaccine that halted the virus’s spread. Rather than patent the discovery, Salk and his collaborators chose to make it freely available, reasoning that the breakthrough belonged to the world rather than to any one inventor’s bottom line.
In 1979, Rotary International, together with area clubs in Mobile, committed to leading a global push to eradicate polio entirely. In the decades since, Rotary’s efforts have helped vaccinate and protect more than 2.5 billion children worldwide.
The scale of that progress is stark. In 1979, more than 350,000 polio cases were reported worldwide across more than 100 countries. Today, only a small number of countries continue to report cases of the wild poliovirus. Public health officials caution that the job is not finished until every country receives an all-clear, a goal that depends on doctors, nurses, researchers, analysts and field workers continuing their work in the hardest-to-reach places.
The stakes of continued vigilance were underscored recently when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported clusters of children in Colorado and Minnesota diagnosed with acute flaccid myelitis, a rare condition that mimics some symptoms of polio. Health officials say the cases are a reminder that vigilance against paralytic illnesses remains important even as polio itself nears eradication.
Mobile Sunrise Rotary meets on Wednesday mornings at the Mobile Country Club, and each year the club raises money both for the campaign to end polio and for local charities. Guests are welcome to attend. The club is encouraging community members to join its “Be the Inspiration” giving effort to help end polio for good, and those interested in learning more about Mobile Sunrise Rotary or other area Rotary clubs can find information through Rotary International’s website.