“Hundreds of thousands of Americans live with the long-term effects of polio.”
Liz Szabo, MA
Published by CiDRAP July 14, 2026
“Sen. Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, has explained his month-long absence from Congress as the result of a fall at home, caused by complications from the polio infection he survived as a child. ‘Surviving childhood polio meant spending my entire life with mobility challenges,’ said McConnell, 84, in a July 12 statement. ‘They haven’t exactly gotten easier to manage with age. And last month, I took a fall which landed me in the hospital.’
Many people today know of polio—which paralyzed up to 58,000 Americans a year at its US peak—only through history books. Thanks to vaccination, the disease was eliminated in the United States in 1979 and throughout the Western Hemisphere in 1994. Today, wild poliovirus circulates routinely only in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Yet the poliovirus continues to harm nearly 300,000 Americans in the form of post-polio syndrome, an array of medical problems that occur decades after the original infection. After years of health, 25% to 40% of polio survivors may suffer pain, renewed muscle weakness, fatigue, and problems speaking or swallowing. In some cases, people lose strength in a limb that had been unaffected before.
McConnell, the former Senate majority leader, has long had an unsteady gait, and has fallen several times in recent years. He is often seen using a wheelchair to get around the Capitol. ‘It’s really the second wave of polio,’ Carol Pandak, PhD, director of PolioPlus, Rotary International’s global effort to eradicate polio, told CIDRAP News. ’It’s devastating for people to once again see your body failing because of polio,’ said Pandak, who has spoken with many polio survivors. ‘People never wanted their lives to be defined by polio.’ “
Fading Memories of a Terrifying Disease
“In the United States, most polio survivors are in their 70s or 80s. The number of people with post-polio syndrome is declining, as survivors age and pass away. Around the world, the burden of polio is much greater, with estimates showing as high as 15 million to 20 million suffering post-polio symptoms. In countries such as India, which didn’t eliminate polio until 2014, ‘there’s a whole generation who will be experiencing this,’ Pandak said. ‘This wave of post-polio has yet to hit them. We have only seen the tip of the iceberg.’
McConnell is far from the only famous person to have survived polio. Well-known survivors include virtuoso violinist Itzhak Perlman, actor Alan Alda, and golfer Jack Nicklaus. A handful of celebrities, including singer and songwriter Joni Mitchell, have spoken publicly about their post-polio symptoms. Some aren’t surprised that so many polio survivors have reached the height of success.”
It’s devastating for people to once again see your body failing because of polio.
A man thanks Jonas Salk in 1955 for the polio vaccine. March of Dimes/Wikimedia Commons
“Polio survivors are often described as having “type A” personalities, perhaps because they had to work so hard to overcome paralysis, said Daniel Ryan, MD, a physiatrist at the Center for Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation in Warren, Michigan, one of a limited number of clinicians with experience treating post-polio syndrome. Survivors of the disease are ‘often very successful compared to the average population, because they had a very strong attitude to push through,’ Ryan said.
Yet polio survivors are much less visible today than in previous generations. Many Americans have never met a polio survivor and know little about the devastation the disease once caused.
Five years ago, when polio survivor Carol Ferguson received her first COVID-19 shot, she started to cry. She was infected with polio in 1954, just one year before the first polio vaccine became available. At the time, the creator of the vaccine, Jonas Salk, MD, was hailed as a hero. He became a household name.”
The nurse who administered Ferguson's COVID-19 vaccine was startled by her reaction and asked if he had hurt her. I said, ‘If only I had had the Salk vaccine,’ Ferguson recalls. The nurse asked, ‘What’s the Salk vaccine? ‘ ”
The Pain of a New Diagnosis
Source: Carol Ferguson
“Ferguson’s polio infection at age 2 left her with mild disabilities. She grew up with one leg shorter than the other. And because the muscles in one foot were weak, she often had trouble lifting it high enough to walk. People called her clumsy when she stumbled and fell. The real pain began when Ferguson was in her 30s and 40s, when the muscles in her left leg grew weaker and began to spasm. An accident in 2000 led to pain in her upper back and neck that ‘became all-consuming.’ She visited multiple doctors over many years and was misdiagnosed five times with multiple sclerosis, a degenerative disease. She was 50 years old when she learned that her physical problems were caused by post-polio syndrome. When a doctor suggested she would benefit from a leg brace, Ferguson said she ‘went down kicking and screaming’ before agreeing to wear it.”
Marny Eulberg Photo Source: Margaret Hinman
“After working so hard to overcome paralysis, it can be crushing for polio survivors to experience disability again. Hearing a doctor recommend a leg brace ‘brings back a lot of emotions for them,’ Ryan said. ‘They remember the kids teasing them, and they don't want to do it.’ ”
“For many survivors, the idea of using a leg brace again ‘feels like a failure,’ said Marny Eulberg, MD, a Colorado family medicine physician who is largely retired but treats people with post-polio syndrome out of her home office. ‘The message I heard in the 1950s was, If you just work hard enough, you can get rid of the crutch and the brace,’ said Eulberg, who contracted polio in 1950 at age 4.”
“Ferguson, now 74, said she now uses a brace on her left leg. She also uses an electric wheelchair to conserve energy and avoid exacerbating her symptoms. ‘I don’t climb steps,’ Ferguson said. ‘If I climb stairs, my hip goes in places it doesn’t belong.’ ”
What Causes Post-Polio Syndrome?
Article Source. "Reprinted with permission of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP). ©2026 Regents of the University of Minnesota. All rights Reserved."