The continued cruelty: Living with polio 50 years after the epidemic

It’s nearly 60 years since the polio epidemic struck fear into the heart of middle Ireland. It’s still not over, says Aileen Lee, for the hundreds of sufferers still affected by the disease

Few diseases frightened parents more in the first half of the 20th century than poliomyelitis. More commonly known as polio, it was also called infantile paralysis, as it predominantly affected children under the age of five. Though most people recovered quickly, some suffered temporary or permanent paralysis or died .

Ironically, even though it is thought that polio has been around since ancient times, it didn’t reach epidemic proportions until the early 1900s, and this was in countries with relatively high standards of living.