#(which include pain & weakness & fatigue & difficulty thinking & HEARTH DAMAGE)

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

we’ve all heard of polio, a disabling and life-threatening disease caused by poliovirus, that ran rampant through the world before it was eradicated (in the west) with the introduction of a vaccine in the 1950s. enough time has passed that most of us, and most of our parents, have grown up without knowing people who survived polio.

what I bet you didn't know about is something called Post-Polio Syndrome. it occurs in more than half of people who survive poliovirus, and it occurs decades later. year after people have lived through polio, years after they have “recovered,” they begin to struggle. they begin to decline. they experience pain and weakness and loss of function. they develop new disabilities, and see old disabilities worsen. and there is no cure, only management. 

That’s what happens post poliovirus. It happens bc poliovirus causes lifelong damage, the extent of which is only revealed decades later. We are among the first generations to grow up not knowing people who live with the longterm consequences of poliovirus.

We will be among the first to find out what Post-Corona Syndrome looks like.