Group raises awareness of post-polio syndrome

Tuesday, Sept. 21, 1999 | 11:32 a.m.

While the word "polio" still causes many older Americans to shudder at the very thought of how crippling the disease was for children during the 1940s and '50s, the term "post polio" today often is greeted with "what?"

Polio, a virus that attacks the central nervous system, has been practically eradicated in the United States by a pair of vaccines. Post-polio syndrome, a term coined in the mid-1980s, is a return of the horror experienced 40 to 50 years ago by survivors of the disease.

Many of those who thought they shook the disease in their youth have in recent years been plagued by similar symptoms -- fatigue, breathing problems, muscle weakness, overall body pain and a degeneration of the spine.

There is no vaccine or cure for post-polio syndrome.

"We want to educate people because, with polio still not under control in Third World nations, children years from now will go through what we are going through unless something is done," Shari Fulton, a polio and post-polio victim from California, said.

As the California and Nevada representative of the Polio Remember Your Strength Foundation Inc., Fulton is an organizer for its second annual conference Friday through Sunday at the Four Queens. The event is open to the public.

Las Vegan Diane Resetar, who contracted polio at age 2 and now at 50 is suffering from post-polio syndrome, said the organization is trying to drum up support to find a cure.

"For me ozone therapy has worked very well," said Resetar, president of the Southern Nevada Association of Polio Survivors, which has 150 members. "We need more awareness of post-polio syndrome among the general public so that we can get more funding for research into ozone and other therapies."

Today children in the United States are routinely immunized against polio with either an injection of the vaccine developed in 1955 by Dr. Jonas Salk or by taking an oral vaccine developed in 1961 by Dr. Albert Sabin. Researchers today do not know what causes post-polio syndrome. They suspect that nerve cells were damaged by polio.

While in the pre-vaccine days it was thought that rigorous exercise was good treatment for polio victims, doctors now urge post-polio victims to not exercise but instead conserve their energy, eat a good diet and use crutches and scooters to get around. The Polio Remember Your Strength Foundation estimates that there are 1.6 million sufferers of post-polio syndrome. Not every polio survivor gets post-polio, but a significant number do, Fulton said.

At the Las Vegas convention this week, proclamations from the governor and city of Las Vegas will recognize the foundation for its educational efforts on behalf of polio survivors. The city has declared September as "Post-Polio Syndrome Awareness Month."

Guest speakers at the convention will include cinematographer Owen Roizman, who has received five Academy Award nominations and the 1997 Lifetime Achievement Award. He is a polio survivor.