Debilitating Disease Forges Strong Friendship

Polio's crippling effects still echo in lives of two women 60 years later

By Marissa Harshman, Columbian Health Reporter

What is polio?

Polio is a contagious viral illness. In its most severe form, polio can cause paralysis, difficulty breathing and sometimes death, according to the Mayo Clinic.

The majority of people infected with the polio virus don’t get sick. In same cases, people develop nonparalytic polio, which causes symptoms similar to the flu and other viral illnesses, such as fever, headache, fatigue, pain or stiffness in the neck, back, arms or legs and muscle weakness.

In rare cases, the infection leads to paralytic polio, the most serious form of the disease. The polio virus invades the brain and spinal cord, causing paralysis, loss of reflexes and severe muscle aches.

And for some, the effects of the virus last a lifetime.

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