{"id":9129,"date":"2025-09-02T16:46:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-02T20:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stillcoviding.ca\/en\/?p=9129"},"modified":"2025-09-04T21:18:49","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T01:18:49","slug":"alberta-polio-survivors-fear-horrifying-virus-could-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stillcoviding.ca\/en\/news\/alberta-polio-survivors-fear-horrifying-virus-could-return\/","title":{"rendered":"Alberta polio survivors fear \u2018horrifying\u2019 virus could return"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/tag\/polio\" target=\"_blank\" lang=\"en\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Polio<\/a>, a highly contagious viral infection that can <a href=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/news\/9056478\/polio-virus-explainer-aug-12\/\" target=\"_blank\" lang=\"en\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">cause paralysis and death<\/a>, has been eradicated in Canada for decades thanks to widespread vaccination efforts.<\/p>\n<p>There is no cure for polio; it can only be prevented, and <a href=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/news\/10919974\/polio-eradicated-canada-thanks-to-vaccine-efforts\/\" target=\"_blank\" lang=\"en\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">doctors warn if vaccine rates continue to decline<\/a> as they have in recent years, it could open the door to a return of the virus in Canada.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s ridiculous,\u201d said Pat Murray, a polio survivor who contracted the disease at just nine months old.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s heartbreaking.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Murray was diagnosed in Winnipeg in 1953, at the height of the polio epidemic.<\/p>\n<p>She was told her neighbour\u2019s daughter shared her lollipop with her and her sister. Both got very sick with the virus.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy dad told me that when I was in bed, I could only move my head from side to side \u2014 the rest of my body was limp,\u201d Murray said.<\/p>\n<p>While many people infected with the virus experience mild or no symptoms, others develop more serious complications, including permanent disability. In severe cases, polio can lead to paralysis, muscle weakness, and in some cases, death.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/tag\/polio\" target=\"_blank\" lang=\"en\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Polio<\/a>, a highly contagious viral infection that can <a href=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/news\/9056478\/polio-virus-explainer-aug-12\/\" target=\"_blank\" lang=\"en\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">cause paralysis and death<\/a>, has been eradicated in Canada for decades thanks to widespread vaccination efforts.<\/p>\n<p>There is no cure for polio; it can only be prevented, and <a href=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/news\/10919974\/polio-eradicated-canada-thanks-to-vaccine-efforts\/\" target=\"_blank\" lang=\"en\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">doctors warn if vaccine rates continue to decline<\/a> as they have in recent years, it could open the door to a return of the virus in Canada.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s ridiculous,\u201d said Pat Murray, a polio survivor who contracted the disease at just nine months old.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s heartbreaking.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"more-link-wrapper\"><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/stillcoviding.ca\/en\/news\/alberta-polio-survivors-fear-horrifying-virus-could-return\/\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Alberta polio survivors fear \u2018horrifying\u2019 virus could return<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[315,96,391,387,709,15],"class_list":["post-9129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-alberta","tag-canada","tag-first-person-stories","tag-polio","tag-poliomyelitis","tag-vaccines","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stillcoviding.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stillcoviding.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stillcoviding.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stillcoviding.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stillcoviding.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9129"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/stillcoviding.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9129\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9131,"href":"https:\/\/stillcoviding.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9129\/revisions\/9131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stillcoviding.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stillcoviding.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stillcoviding.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}